What I've Done For You
by Luna Calamity
Summary: PALLETSHIPPING. Ash became a Pokemon Trainer because of Gary and although Gary does not want to go down this path, he will, simply to keep his best friend happy. But just how much will he sacrifice for Ash's happiness? Will he even go against his own feelings for said boy? Will he stay hidden and hurt to allow the other to shine? After all...one must atone for one's own mistakes.
1. Chapter 1

_How It Started_

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon or the adorable characters that will be displayed in this story. It all belongs to Satoshi Tajiri which makes me fan girl just because of the name XD XD

Btw I'm too lazy to always put the little dashy 'e' in pokemon and stuff (even though that's gonna irk the hellz outta me). **If anyone knows of a shortcut to it, that would be divine** :D

Well anyway! Let's begin from (literally) the beginning.

* * *

All throughout the land, many slept through the darkness. You could only hear bug pokemon outside, along with a few nocturnal birds that preyed at that time.

Along with those pokemon were two little boys; both 5 years of age; looking up at the many stars that covered the deep blue sky. Little Shigeru Gary Oak* and Satoshi Ash Ketchum* lied on a blanket next to their tent as they camped out together.

Different topics were talked about between the two best friends, about their parents (although neither technically had the sufficient amount), their favorite colors (Satoshi's being red and Shigeru's being blue), the stars, games, pokemon, and any other topic that made its way into their innocent heads.

Soon enough, the topic of life choices came along.

"Do you know what you wanna be when you grow up Ashy?" Shigeru asked, using his friends' nickname.

Satoshi shrugged, keeping his large burnt sienna eyes placed on a Caterpie that was slowly climbing it's way up a tree.

"I dunno. There's nothin that I really wanna be. Pokemon are real cool and all but," Satoshi shrugged, not knowing how to end his sentence.

Shigeru looked at his best friend. He knew that he, himself wanted to be a professor like his grandpa, but it upset him to see his usually giddy friend seem so down about something.

"Well…we can think of somethin,"

Satoshi shook his head sadly, replying, "I dun think so. I'll never be anything. I'm too…stupid. Even you said so."

"Huh? When?"

"The other day when I spilled your Moomoo milk…"

Shigeru frowned at Satoshi.

"Well I was jus' angry Ashy. You're not stupid."

Satoshi sadly pouted.

"Meh, I'm still not good enough to be anythin."

Shigeru looked up again, wondering how to cheer his bestest bud. Soon, he got an idea; something that always pumped up his friend.

"Well, duh, you're gonna be a Pokemon Trainer, just like me!"

"A Pokemon…Trainer?"

"Yeah, they fight tough Gym Leaders and travel around the world and become Champions and stuff!"

"Why am I gonna be that?"

"Because I gotta show the world how I'm better than you!"

A spark of anger passed through the little boy and he turned towards Shigeru.

"Jus' cuz you beat me wif pokemon cards doesn't mean you can win in a real fight!"

"Yuh huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Yuh huh!"

"Nuh uh!"

Shigeru was now sitting up, his signature smirk suddenly appearing.

"Ok, prove it!"

Satoshi quickly stood up and pointed at Shigeru before loudly exclaiming, "Fine! I'm gonna be the best Pokemon Trainer ever! And I'll beat you each time!"

BEEP BEEP BEEP

* * *

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Gary was jolted awake by his alarm clock, quickly getting up and clicking the button atop of the contraption.

"Shhhhh…" he said to the alarm clock and slumped down onto his drawer.

He thought about the dream he just had. Since when did he have flashbacks as dreams? It'd been a while since he thought of how Ash's passion started and thinking of said memory reminded him of what today was.

"Right…time to go," he thought out loud, looking at the other side of his room almost in shock.

Even though he truly wanted to be a Pokemon Professor, he chose to be a Pokemon Trainer instead. Why, you ask? Well his reason was simple (to him at least). He wanted to keep Ash motivated. If he just gave up being a Trainer, Ash would have no reason to continue because he only became one to beat Gary! But on the bright side, Trainers learn a lot about pokemon; so it wasn't all that bad.

As Shigeru Gary Oak dressed himself with a simple long sleeve, purple shirt and dark blue jeans, he thought of his best friend…or at least used to be.

A frown plastered onto the brunette's face as he brushed his teeth. Yes. Used to be. The cause of this dumb rivalry that Gary had sparked up and festered Ash seemed to only want to be better than him. But what else could Gary do? Even more than a Professor, Gary wanted his friend to live happy and have a fulfilling life. Whenever Gary would attempt to calm the feud down and be friend's again, Ash would lose his motivation and would question whether he truly wanted to go down this path. So, although it hurt, Gary was happy that Ash had finally obtained a passion…

Another thought came into Gary's mind, which made the 15 year old* glare at his cereal as he got ready to eat breakfast. Even though he was doing this adventure, even though he wanted to become a Pokemon Professor…he hated pokemon. He loathed the beasts for what they did.

"Glare any harder and your food will burst into flames."

Gary blinked and looked up at his sister who was at the other side of the table. He didn't even notice her walk in. As a matter of fact, did he serve his own bowl or did she? Gary was pulled away from his random questions as May, his older sister spoke.

"What're you so mad about? You're leaving for your journey with Satoshi today, right?"

Gary looked down at his food again and nodded, now eating with a new found determination.

'This is for Ash. He's happy right? Right.'

* * *

With a deep breath, Gary forced his façade up, grabbed his necessities that were already in his bag, and left to his grandfather's Lab to obtain a Pokemon that his grandfather promised him.

Silently walking up the large hill, Gary thought back to the times where he and Ash would play around in the grass and run up and down this hill.

'No,' he thought.

'No time for thoughts like that.'

Walking into the lab and passing by his grandfathers' aides, Gary called out for his guardian. No reply. Once realizing he was out at the moment, he looked around the place out of boredom to pass the time. There was a lot of high tech machinery to help his gramps with his research, but even as a 15 year old kid, Gary recognized and knew how most of them worked.

As he went over them in his mind, he heard the doors open and turned, noticing a certain black haired boy walk in with a look that searched for someone; much like his own when he himself walked in.

Gary began his mocking as it became almost natural to him now.

"Hey Satoshi-kuuun~"

Ash instantly frowned, truly hating that pet name that only Gary used.

"I'm just looking for the Professor, Gary. Why are you here?" Ash asked although he knew the exact reason.

"Gramps isn't around. I ran here coz' he said he had a pokemon for me."

"Well, he has one for me too."

"Ha! Doubt it'll be better than mine."

"We'll see about that!" Ash angrily stated, his cheeks lightly flushing from anger as he stuck out his tongue and turned, leaving the lab.

Gary sighed at his fake rudeness but already became accustomed to the feeling of his old best friend glaring at him. It didn't hurt so much since he knew that he was helping the shorter 15 year old in the long run.

After ten minutes or so, Gary's grandfather, Professor Oak, walked in with Ash in tow, the two happily talking. Mask back on.

"Gramps, I'm fed up with waiting!"

"Hm? Shigeru? Why are you here already? I said for you to come later…"

Gary gave his gramps an 'it IS later' look and the old professor lightly laughed.

"Ah whatever! Just wait there. Look Satoshi, do you see that ball over there? It's a pokeball," Professor Oak said as he pointed to the lone pokeball on his desk.

"Duh~, I knew _that, _Professor," Ash said as he turned to the desk.

"Of course. Well that one holds a pokemon inside. You may have it. Go on, take it!"

"Hey Gramps! What about me?"

"Be patient, Shigeru. I'll give you one later."

Gary frowned and watched as Ash stuck out his tongue and walked over to the table he was leaning on. Oh yeah? Before Ash could even touch the ball, Gary used his ability of height to snatch it away.

"Swipe!" Gary said as he grabbed the pokeball from over Ash's shoulder.

"Hey!"

"No way Satoshi-kun, I want this pokemon!" he replied as he held the ball out of Ash's reach.

"Shigeru! What are you doing? Stop acting like a child."

"Graaaaaamps! I want this one!"

"But I…Oh alright then. That pokemon is yours. I was going to give you one anyway…" Professor Oak said as he shook his head. These two could never stop fighting. What ever happened to the lovely friendship they had back then?

"Satoshi, come over here."

Ash angrily pouted but listened to the Professor, holding the two straps of his book bag firmly. The professor reached into his pocket and pulled out another pokeball.

"This is the pokemon I caught earlier with you today."

Gary curiously watched as Ash's smiled abruptly came back to life, holding the ball with delight.

"You can have it, but I caught it in the wild, so it's not tame yet, alright?"

Gary eyed the boy's pokeball for a moment before releasing his own from its' ball.

"Oh an Eevee! Awesome!" Gary exclaimed, honestly elated with the pokemon.

Ash copied the brunette and released his, revealing that he had a Pikachu.

'Huh? Gramps caught this in the wild? But those are rare in this region…' Gary curiously thought.

He looked over to his grandfather for an answer but the old man merely smiled at Gary then said, "Ah! Before you go boys, let me give you one more pokemon."

The Professor pulled out a case from underneath his desk and opened it to reveal three more pokeballs.

"There are many different types of pokemon out in the wild and you will never know which will confront you," the older of the three explained as he told them about each pokemon that was in the case.

"Oh! Oh! I want a Charmander!" Ash quickly said as he grabbed said pokeball.

Gary, continuing his mean demeanor, took Squirtle to make sure he had a good type advantage over Ash.

"Heh, my pokemon look a lot stronger than yours," Gary said as he put Squirtle away.

"Nuh uh Gary! You're Squirtle and Eevee are too cute to look tough!"

"Yeah, sure," Gary said with a roll of his eyes.

After another glare to the brunette, Ash began to walk away. But Gary suddenly felt bad and wanted the boy to stay.

"Wait Ash!"

Ash turned to Gary, asking a quick, "What now?", expecting something mean. Gary paused for a moment, not truly sure what he wanted to even tell the boy, but quickly made something up that seemed right.

"Let's check out our pokemon! Come on I'll take you on!"

Those didn't seem like the right words at all.

Either way, Ash agreed, telling Gary that this would be an easy win.

"Yeah for me!" Gary retorted.

After agreeing to just a one on one match for time purposes, the two went outside to a clearing on the side of the lab. The two chose their first pokemon: Eevee and Pikachu.

As they battled, the small Eevee noticed two things about both trainers. One was that Pikachu truly couldn't care less about Ash's orders and did not want to even be by his trainers' side; so the one with the black hair was definitely going to have trouble. The other thing Eevee learned was that his own trainer was not an experienced one. Or rather, there was no compassion to his orders. Even though that is how pokemon battles work, Eevee could simply feel the dominance Gary was attempting to give off. That dominance was what led Eevee to its failure as it fainted from another Thundershock.

"What? Unbelievable! I picked the wrong pokemon!" Gary yelled out as he returned Eevee to its ball.

"Ha! As if! I'm just better than you Gary! Admit it!"

"Forget it Satoshi-kun! I'll just make my pokemon fight to toughen it up!" Gary yelled out as he walked by Ash and pulled the boy's cap down over his eyes.

"Smell ya later!" he said, running down the path to reach the forest on the far end of town.

* * *

*****Shigeru Gary Oak & Satoshi Ash Ketchum are not their real names! I simply prefer the Japanese names and wanted to add it in there. But since everyone is more familiar with their English names, I will keep that as well. I think it sounds cooler anyway.

*****Yes, yes I know that they start off at the age of 10, but for my story, how things will be played out and all, I'd prefer them to be a tad bit older. Especially for future references.

**A.N.-**Ah ok so if any of you have noticed already, this storyline is strongly based on the Pokemon Yellow version. I'm literally going to go through that sequence of when and where you first saw Gary (er I mean Blue) as you go through your adventure. (I'm also literally playing the game on my Gameboy Advance because online playthroughs don't tell me the exact dialogue and such. Respect your elders!) There will be added scenes just for Gary and some things a little changed up for fanfiction purposes. So if you ever played the game, you'll love how I go through this and have happy memories :)

Oh and I also am adding scenes from the anime and a few from the old manga itself. Yes, this is gonna be a huge mixture of awesome Palletshipping that could totally become canon by everything :D Lol Ah, I'm crazy.

ANYWAY, if you see spelling and grammar mistakes PLEASE tell me about them (doesn't even have to be specific. Just say somewhere at the beginning or at the end you misspelled something you suck!) because I am severely anal when it comes to grammar (no gay pun intended lol)

R&R!


	2. Chapter 2

**Previously:**

"What? Unbelievable! I picked the wrong pokemon!" Gary yelled out as he returned Eevee to its ball.

"Ha! As if! I'm just better than you Gary! Admit it!"

"Forget it Satoshi-kun! I'll just make my pokemon fight to toughen it up!" Gary yelled out as he walked by Ash and pulled the boy's cap down over his eyes.

"Smell ya later!" he said, running down the path to reach the forest on the far end of town.

* * *

He ran deep enough into the woods where he considered it far enough and released his other pokemon, Squirtle. The turtle pokemon happily yelled out its name, expecting a battle right away but drained when he saw no opponent.

"We'll find something, just hold on," Gary said as he looked around.

After a few moments he spotted a Rattata running by.

"There Squirtle!" Gary called out as he pointed to the side.

Squirtle smiled and ran, jumping in front of it to block its way. The Rattata was startled at first, but became offensive quickly. Gary stood behind Squirtle and said, "Alright, let's start off with a Tackle, Squirtle!"

Squirtle cried out in excitement and ran towards the small rat pokemon, tackling in on its side. The Rattata quickly recovered and retaliated with a Tackle as well.

"Quick, move! Now Tackle!"

Gary smiled contently at the progress he made. Although Squirtle eventually fainted, he'd become pretty strong! He'd heal them up real fast in the lab then show his grandfather the Squirtle.

Still, he wasn't so interested in the pokemon anymore. He'd prefer something stronger.

As he opened the door, Gary froze as he saw Ash again. For some reason, his heart always sped up at the image of his old best friend. Maybe because he missed their friendship.

Gary walked past the two, lightly hearing conversation about some parcel, and took the moment to heal his pokemon on the machine in the far back. Then, he came back to gloat.

"Gramps! My Squirtle has grown stronger! Check it out!"

But before he could release the small turtle, the Professor cut him off, saying, "Ah Shigeru, good timing! I need to ask both of you to do something for me."

The two stood there for a moment to hear his request.

"On the desk there is my invention; the Pokedex. It automatically records data on pokemon you've seen or caught. It's pretty much a high-tech encyclopedia!"

Gary already knew about this invention when he was looking through his grandfather's notes a few years back, but still allowed himself to act surprised; it's not like he wasn't used to acting.

"Oh yeah you talked about these before, right Gramps?"

The Professor nodded then looked over to Ash.

"Satoshi, take one of these with you. And you too Shigeru."

The two walked over to the desk and inspected the small machines. Gary was the first one to grab one, quickly opening without a hassle. Ash on the other hand, didn't know how to open it. As Gary blatantly explained it to him, they heard the Professor speak again.

"Ah, to make a complete guide on all the pokemon in the world…That was my dream. But I'm too old. I can't do it so I want you two to fulfill my dream for me. Once you have all your things ready, I'd like for you to get moving quickly! This is a great undertaking in pokemon history!"

Gary forced a wide smile onto his face; pretending to feel truly elated over this journey. He wasn't really too interested in finding and catching every single pokemon in the world. Maybe make someone else do it for him. But as he looked over to Ash, he could see his eyes somehow brighten at the contraption.

As Ash's cheeks began to flush, Gary quickly looked away towards his grandfather, pointing to himself.

"Alright Gramps! Leave it all to me!"

"Hey, he wanted both of us to work on this!" Ash quickly yelled out.

Gary rolled his eyes and smirked, turning back to the smaller boy.

"Ash, I hate to say it, but you aren't exactly the toughest Trainer out there. Barely a beginner really."

"Hey! I beat you earlier and you know it!"

"Eh, beginners luck. The point of this is Satoshi-kun, I don't need you! Never have, never will."

A pain in his heart suddenly occurred as Ash's eyes widened at this comment.

"I know!" Gary continued, "I'll borrow a Town Map from my sis and tell her not to lend you one, Satoshi-kun!"

"Wha? But I need one! Garyyyy!"

But Gary already ran out and down the hill to his house.

As he ran, his smile slowly dimmed down and eventually turned into a frown. Did he maybe go too far with that last part?

Running into his house, he placed a hand down onto the table in the middle of the living room, catching his breath. Really thinking hard on it…he did need Satoshi.

"Gary?"

Gary jumped, looking up at his sister, May.

Desiring to leave, he quickly asked for a Town Map and said good bye right after she gave him a hug and kiss on the head. But before he left he turned to his sister and said, "Oh uhm, if Satoshi comes by…"

His sister softly smiled and nodded.

"I've got a spare, don't worry Shigeru."

Gary lightly blushed at his sisters' mind-reading powers and nodded, leaving once again.

Walking through Route 2, he thought of what he needed to accomplish for the umpteenth time: Fight a multitude of Gym Leaders, defeat the Elite Four and fight to become the next Champion…Sounded easy enough…on a list that is.

He sighed.

"I hate pokemon," he murmured as another pokemon popped up in the grass he was in. With a sigh, he released Eevee and prepared for battle.

* * *

Gary sighed again as he walked out of the entrance to the Pokemon League. (He also, in turn, realized how much he had been sighing lately. It was only a day into this journey.) Although already knowing of his task; being retold about it by a professional showed to him everything he was truly dealing with.

'Why am I doing this again?' he thought.

And as if he was being answered, something suddenly bumped into the brunette causing him to stumble while said person fell on their bottom.

"Well if it isn't Satoshi-kun," Gary said as he held his hand out to Asj.

Ash glared up at Gary and swatted his hand away, getting up by himself.

"What're you doing here Gary?"

"Just went over to the Pokemon League entrance."

Ash's eyes cutely widened as he looked over Gary's shoulder.

"Furreal? Let's go Pikachu!" Ash cried out, but the pokemon that trotted behind him merely rolled its eyes.

"Seems like he's pretty smart compared to you Satoshi-kun. Don't even think about going to the PL. I highly doubt you have any badges anyway."

Ash's cheeks brightened out of anger as he retaliated, "well neither do you! Why were you there?"

Gary watched Ash for a moment; truly enjoying this expression although he wasn't really sure why.

"Well?"

Gary blinked for a moment, realizing he was staring.

"Heh, sorry, you just looked so,"

'cute'

Gary's eyes widened at his minds' choice of words and quickly said, "-so stupid that I had to stare. Well, the guard won't let you through anyway so you might as well turn back."

Ash kept eye contact with Gary for a moent, looked over his shoulder again, then with a, "fine we're going to Pewter for the first Gym Leader before you anyway!", he turned to leave.

But something in the back of Gary's mind seemed to force these next words out of his mouth.

"By the way Ash! Have your pokemon gotten stronger?"

Gary watched as Ash turned back around (his Pikachu turning right after, seeming to be interested in this challenge) and that somehow seemed to pull a stress out of his heart.

Gary smirked his signature smirk and held up his poke ball towards Ash. Ash looked at the ball for a moment then seemed to smirk right back up at the brunette.

After a quick turn of his cap (Gary chuckling at this), Ash accepted his battle and chose Pikachu. Gary in turn chose a Spearow and their battle commenced.

Ash made the first move, believing he'd win with one Thundershock. But Gary quickly guided the bird pokemon to dodge the attacks and use multiple Sand-Attacks to confuse Pikachu. Then he ordered it to attack with a Peck.

This procedure continued for a minute or so until Ash finally found a strategy to attack the Spearow.

By the second Thundershock it fainted.

Gary didn't care all too much, but felt sour as he watched Ash congratulate the Pikachu, as if it won a huge award. With a 'humph' he called out Squirtle, which in turn made Ash switch to Pidgey. They fought again but this time Gary was more aggressive. Even when the Pidgey was down for a moment, he'd order the Squirtle to Tackle it again, which the Squirtle hesitantly obliged to.

The Pidgey was out quickly, making Ash grit his teeth.

"What a matter Satoshi-kun? Too hard for you? Maybe you should just go back home before a Gym Leader embarrasses you."

This angered the smaller boy as he now chose Charmander to fight.

"A fire type against water? Now Ash, I know you want to lose, but seriously."

"Shut it Gary! You're still losing to me!"

And with that, another battle ensued. But even though Gary had Squirtle, the small thing still hadn't learned any water-type moves, which frustrated Gary. Still, he pretended to be shocked when his Squirtle fainted.

The brunette expected his rival to gloat about his win, but instead, he went on congratulating his pokemon again, petting it and giving it sweet compliments.

Gary's frown soon turned into a glare towards this and with a small growl under his breath, he pulled out his final and strongest pokemon so far: Eevee.

The next battle was pretty fast, as Eevee had higher speed than Charmander and could evade all of its attacks then retaliate with full force. However, everyone could see that Gary was not showing any compassion to the Eevee for it's win. Truth be told, Gary didn't care about winning. He simply didn't want to see Ash getting all sweet and lovey with the pokemon again. Why? Just because it was frustrating!

The final fight led to their first actual pokemon battle once again; Eevee versus Pikachu.

Eevee listened to all of his Trainers' orders, but the small fox pokemon could still feel the way Gary simply did not care. But as Gary ordered another attack, Eevee noticed another emotion: anger. As Pikachu fainted, Eevee panted for a moment and turned to look at Gary. It's eyes widened at how angry the boy seemed. He didn't really hate the other Trainer that badly did he?

Suddenly, a smirk was forced onto Gary's face.

"You need more practice if you're gonna beat the Champion, Satoshi-kun."

"Huh? You know him?"

"Of course! Me! At least I will be soon enough," he replied, walking past Ash.

"I heard the Pokemon League has many tough Trainers. I have to figure out how to get past them. Not that that will be hard. Quit dawdling and get a move on," Gary coldy stated as he walked back to Viridian City.

Eevee sped past Ash to follow his stern Trainer, feeling weak and wanting to go into its' pokeball.

Gary soon noticed the small, brown pokemon and looked at it in disgust then returned it into its poke ball. He didn't want to look at pokemon at the moment. But sadly, the whole species in general was always around in every corner; mocking and taunting Gary, reminding him of what they did to make him hate them so.

* * *

That night, Gary camped out in the Viridian Forest, looking up at the stars that drowned the sky. No matter what age, the stars seemed to always look the same.

Suddenly, the brunette heard a pokemon coming out of its pokeball and turned to see Eevee walking over to his face.

Gary frowned at the fox pokemon and asked what it wanted. Eevee sat there, giving the brunette a serious stare.

"What? Got a problem?"

The Eevee gave out it's call, now looking a little angry.

"Upset that I treat you so badly?"

It nodded.

Gary shrugged and looked back up into the dark abyss above the earth.

"Well, if you're so upset then leave. I won't care. Hell, I barely care about you now."

Eevee's dark eyes widened in shock. It was even more confused at the next statement.

"I hate pokemon."

The two stayed silent for a while, Gary expecting the Eevee to lash out on him or something, but was intrigued that instead, it just looked at him, confused and lightly hurt. He supposed he could give it an explanation.

"You pokemon…took something from me. It's unforgivable and frustrating; especially at the fact that I have to look at you all every single day; j-just to be reminded of what you did! But most of all it's…confusing," he said, thinking of the weird way he thought of Ash earlier.

Eevee sadly looked away from his Trainer, wondering what could have happened to the boy.

As Gary thought about it, he now realized that he did think Ash was cute. Of course, he'd never admit it to anyone, but his face just made him want to smile.

As one slowly crept up onto his face, his thoughts were disrupted by something nudging his arm. He looked down at the pokemon again, watching as it rubbed its cheek against him; as if for comfort.

As he was about to react, the sound of another poekmon leaving its pokeball was heard, and this time it was the Caterpie he had just caught that evening.

The bug pokemon was puny and weak, but Gary caught it to eventually evolve it and make it stronger.

However, the critter was now glaring at Gary. So the brunette glared right back, sitting up to gain more dominance.

"What, you too now? Like I said! Got a problem with me? Then leave! See if I give a damn!"

At that, the Caterpie sharpened its glare then used Stringshot directly on his face. Gary attempted to clear it up as it waddled away, pushing its pokeball along with it. Once Gary was able to see, he aimed to kick the bug, but missed as it was a tad bit too far.

"Fine! Go! You're weak and pathetic anyway!" Gary yelled out after completely cleaning his face.

He quickly laid back down, glaring up into the sky.

'Stupid pokemon. They're all dumb and worthless anyway,' he angrily thought.

Eevee watched his Trainer for another moment, wondering whether he should leave too.

After a while, Gary had fallen asleep and Eevee decided to swiftly and softly climb onto his chest and rest there. Maybe he'd feel better if Eevee was kinder to him? All he knew was that Gary was angry about something and maybe he could help remedy his Trainers' problems.

With a high-pitched yawn, the fox pokemon curled up into a ball and fell asleep to his Trainers' heartbeat.

**To be continued…**

* * *

A.N.: Ah, this was hard. And very long. This was actually supposed to be three separate chapters but as I was writing it, I felt as if they were better off together (Which makes it tougher for me because now I'm on a shorter time limit for the next chapters). But uhm, yeah you're learning about Gary's true hate for these fellers J Ah But I'll always love Gary. Anyway, he still has a ways to go. And I bet you guys might be wondering about his car and cheerleaders, hm? J Well don't worry they're coming in very soon. I actually made them quite important.

_Well, please R&R and check my grammar for me!_


	3. Chapter 3

Quick note: if you do not know the yellow storyline, this might get confusing to you. I'd suggest simply looking up a walk through. :) that's what I did!

* * *

"Onix! Dig underground!"

"Wait Squirtle! Just like we practiced; wait to move."

The Gym became quiet, only a small sound of rumbling under the feet of a Gym Leader, a Trainer, and a small Pokemon.

Shigeru Gary Oak stayed motionless like Squirtle; pressing a bare foot down on the ground, searching for where Onix would appear.

"Now Onix!"

Suddenly, the rock pokemon shot from the ground, charging directly towards the small, blue Squirtle. He, however, trained for this and noticed the Onix early on. Squirtle leaped forward, going into its shell and sliding to move out of its way. Then Squirtle quickly turned, heard Gary's order to attack, and shot his Water Gun on the Onix's side. The Onix winced and tried to go underground again to protect himself but Squirtle, being the nut that he was, jumped in after it and continued a rapid Water Gun behind him.

The two people who were still above ground could only listen to the battle and a few moments later, Onix shot up from the ground and fainted, Squirtle standing atop of the rock Pokemon as he gloated on his win.

With a 'yes!', Gary hopped up, giving the Squirtle a thumbs up as it ran back towards him.

Brock, the Gym Leader, heartily laughed as he returned Onix to its pokeball, clapping afterwards.

"Congratulations Shigeru! That was some battle!"

Gary smiled and bowed politely.

"Thank you for the battle," he kindly stated.

"Don't thank me for that!"

Gary watched as Brock ran over the field as it began to close and handed him the Boulder Badge. Gary held the badge up to the light, enjoying the glimmer it gave off. It reminded him of the goal he was striving for.

After talking for a moment, Gary thanked him again and left the gym. But as soon as he walked a few steps forward, there stood 6 girls in cheerleader outfits, smiling brightly at the boy. Gary stood there wide-eyed for a moment and before he could speak one said, "you were amazing Shigeru!"

"Yeah you're so cool! How did you manage to beat Brock so easily?"

"Uhm well-"

"You're so tough!"

"Wonderful!"

"Super duper fantastic!"

"And handsome to back it up!"

Then, all in unison, then said, "can we be your groupies?"

Gary had to take a step back as they moved closer.

"G-groupies?"

"Yeah! We'll follow you around and cheer you on every step of the way!"

"We even have a car! It'll be easier to travel~," said the redhead as she turned to reveal a red convertible.

Gary whistled at the car; it was one beaut. But sadly, he knew he had to decline because of his objective.

"Ah, I don't think so ladies. I'm kinda trying to rush through this adventure."

"A car won't help you rush? And we'll just be in the sidelines, you won't even notice us!"  
"No thanks," he replied, walking past them.

He eyed the car for another moment before making it to the town Pokemon Center. Although he thought the situation was now in the past, the girls continued to follow and pester him until he went into the building.

'Honestly, there are some freaks around here...' he thought as he was greeted by a Nurse Joy.

After fully healing his team, he began making his way to Route 3 when he noticed a red convertible drive up and stroll next to him. He tried to ignore the odd girls for a while but turned towards the car when he reached his final limit.

"Maybe I didn't make myself clear earlier."

"We noticed you didn't go to the market to get more supplies so we got some for you!" the brunette cheerleader explained, ignoring Gary's previous comment.

The girl threw a bag at Gary which he quickly caught.

"It's an 'I'm sorry' gift from us. Catch ya later!"

And with that, they drove off, giggling and talking. Gary watched them leave then looked into the bag, finding many potions, pokeballs, escape ropes, and many more things. He groaned, wishing he could give this back but he really was low on supplies... Well, it _was_ a gift.

* * *

Gary looked through his pokedex again as he walked back to Cerulean City. That Bill sure was a weird fellow. But oddly intelligent.

Walking through a pathway that led to Bill's house, Gary nonchalantly looked up when he heard someone coming.

"Oh look over here Pikachu! This place looks promising."

Gary's eyes widened, hearing Ash's voice. He caught up to him already? How? Gary pivoted and was about to run and hide but paused. Run and hide? What for? After clearing the nervousness from his mind, he turned back around and began walking towards said Trainers' voice.

"Well, well look whose beaten the first Gym Leader," Gary loudly stated, hoping Ash had heard.

The shorter boy was closer than expected as he questioned behind a few trees, "Gary?" Gary seemed to freeze at the sound of his rival vocalizing his name.

"The one and only..."

Gary leaned on a tree, feeling as if he was close enough to Ash. For some reason, Gary didn't really want to see him. Not only did his voice sound different, he felt as if looking at his old friend might trigger something. That odd feeling that he was trying to run away from.

"So, you're still struggling along back there?"

"Huh? I just got here!"

"So I'm already ahead by a badge then."

Ash became quiet for a moment then retaliated, "W-well before I went there, I wanted to do some sight-seeing!"

Gary scoffed, looking down at a Rattata that thought it was hiding well then ran by his feet. There was an awkward silence for a moment as they leaned on opposite sides of a tree. Gary suddenly felt nervous, debating whether he should say something. But what was there to tell? The brunette shifted his feet around on the dirt, creating a bit of a circle to occupy his stressed mind. When exactly did this start? Becoming anxious whenever Ash came around. Did it truly hurt him that badly to have lost his best friend?

"...So how've you been?"

Gary broke out of his confusing thoughts as Ash used his ability to block out all other sound. Why was their such kindness interlaced with that question? Their separation was not that long ago; maybe around a week (6 days actually. Gary didn't hesitate to keep count). And after years of practice and nonstop use, Gary couldn't help but to answer arrogantly.

"Ha! I'm doing great! I caught a bunch of smart and strong Pokemon! This has been pretty easy for me," Gary lied. It was true that he had already caught so many Pokemon but many of them left him because of his attitude. He made sure to keep that tidbit out of this conversation, for this adventure was surely the opposite of easy.

Ash scoffed, Gary visualizing the boys' eyes rolling.

"Oh please, this journey is tough for us beginners and you know it!"

"So you admit that this is tough."

"Of course!"

"So why haven't you given up yet?"

"Because I'm not like you."

Gary turned to this; shocked by such an accusation. He thought Ash knew him completely!

"What the heck do you mean?!"

"Whenever we played _anything_ as kids and you'd lose, you'd get super angry and not talk to me after! _Including_ that match we had a couple days ago. I could see how pissed you were every time you lost."

Ok so maybe he did know him well.

The two became quiet again as Gary had no comeback to that statement. All that could be heard was the wind rustling the trees and Ash's Pikachu seeming to become frustrated about something. Gary thought about his attitude and wondered where it all started. Maybe the death of his parents? That surely scarred him but that didn't seem like the cause.

With a sigh, he discarded the thoughts for now. He'd think more on it some other time when his heart was in a more natural pace.

"Hey guess what?"

Gary decided to conclude this meeting.

"I saw Bill today. He showed me his rare Pokemon and that added a lot of pages to my pokedex."

Quick footsteps were suddenly heard as Gary's raw sienna eyes clashed with the burnt sienna of Ash's. Gary quietly swallowed as Ash stared at him, his eyes wide in shock.

"You mean the Bill?!"

Suddenly Gary's knees felt a little shaky.

"Y-yeah. World famous Pokemaniac. Made the Pokemon Storage System on the PC too. You should go meet him and thank him since you're using his system. His house is down this pathway, to the right. Well I better get rolling! I've got Gym Leaders to beat; unlike you. Smell ya later!"

"Ah, Gary wait!"

But Gary already ran off; back to Cerulean to heal his team, to move on to the next Gym, but mainly to get away from his old friend.

* * *

As he began making his way to Route 5 to leave Cerulean, his jog turned into a speed walk, then to walking, then simply standing there. With a deep sigh, Gary put his hands through his hair. He seriously needed to pull himself together! Why was he rushing? Maybe...avoiding Ash was for the best. If he starts to act weaker whenever he's around the dark haired boy, how will Ash continue on his own journey?

After concluding that he'd challenge Ash in every other encounter, he began to walk down the route again until he heard the sound of a car down the dirt road. He walked to the side, stepping onto the grass and out of its way until he saw the car slow down and the same cheerleaders from before.

'Oh no,' he thought.

"Hiiiii Gary!" they all said in unison.

"So how have you been?"

"Fine."

"Good with your supplies?"

"Yes."

"We watched you battle in Cerulean! You were a-mazing!"

"Care to drive? It'll be so much easier to reach the next city," the red headed cheerleader cooly stated.

"And how will I catch Pokemon in a car?"

"We'll just stop! And we can take breaks every now and then!" the blonde happily replied, seeming to be the densest of the group.

Gary stayed quiet and tried to ignore them again.

"Either way, Shigeru-kun, we'll be following you 'til the end of this adventure. The only difference is you in a car," the brunette stated.

Gary paused, in turn making the girls stop the car. He looked at the car, then back at the girls. They all had a different personality and seemed to enjoy his presence. And having a car means more distance from Ash...

"Fine, move over," he said as he jumped into the passenger seat, the blonde who sat there quickly moving over.

"We'll be fine under one condition."

"What's that Shigeru-kun?" the green haired girl asked, giving Gary an odd stare as she put a few fingers through his hair.

With a quick push of her hand, he stated, "Don't call me Shigeru-kun. Just Shigeru or Gary is fine."

With that, the red head began to drive.

"So, shall we do quick introductions?"

"Alright."

Gary turned in his seat, angling himself to look at all the girls.

The red head who started the conversation spoke first, stating that her name is Fuela and she favors fire type Pokemon. That was quite obvious as even her hair resembled the element, being short and spiked up at the ends.

"I'm Liana! And I LOVE electric Pokemon!" Gary looked her over, but, excluding the color of her hair, you couldn't tell her preference. Her hair was long and in two pigtails and her figure was quite slim.

The brunette named Teres was into ground Pokemon and seemed to have a sweet but smart personality. The black haired girl was called Kuron and was into dark types. She tended to stay very quiet but knew when to have fun and cheer when Gary was around. Then there was the pink haired cheerleader named Niel. She seemed like the sweetest of them all, her hair making Gary think of a puff of pink cotton. She preferred normal types. Gary then looked over to the final cheerleader, the one who continued to watch him in the oddest manner.

"I am Liet. I adore grass types. But of course, not as much as Shigeru-san..."  
Liet gave him another leer then brightly smiled as to play off a facade for the girls. Her green hair was in a long braid and Gary couldn't help but to notice that she was the most 'gifted' when it came to the bosom area.

Ignoring her stare, Gary turned back forward and watched the city come closer, hoping these girls wouldn't get in his way. He never noticed Liet's continuous stare to the back of his head. With a quick lick of her lips, she thought up a plan to see if fate would decide to reward her with a certain boy.

To Be Continued

* * *

AN: yeah, this is where I'm cutting off for now. If you're going by the walk through, I wonder if you can guess the next location :3 remember, I'm going by every place that Ash meets Gary :3

Ah things will get screwy and unhappy. But that's the point right? Shigeru sacrifices a lot of things for sweet, clueless Ash lol

Oh and I hope you like the cheerleaders ;D they play a large role in this story so try to remember them! I'll still be helping along the way with that of course. Lol I'm sure all of you fans also adore Liet by now XD

Anyway R&R please! They are what keep me going! If I get a lot, I will update faster lol


	4. Chapter 4

Another quick note: the girls can also be easy to remember because most (if not all) of their names deal with their preferred type. Example: Fuela-fuego (means fire) -fire, Teres-terra (means earth)-ground, etc.

* * *

"C'mon Shigeru it'll be fun!"

"Where are we going?"

Gary asked as Liana, the blonde cheerleader, and Teres, the brunette, pulled him through Vermilion City. As they tugged him through, he glanced around and noticed the city's Gym.

"You'll see!"

"Ah, wait wait! There's the Gym there, we gotta go there first!"

"Oh this'll just take a day or two."

"A DAY?"

Gary yanked his arms away from the girls and glared at them.

"Listen I'm not on some vacation alright? I have leaders to beat to become a Champion! And I'm pretty much on a time limit!" he yelled out as he turned around to make sure a certain person wasn't there yet.

Liana innocently cocked her head to the side and asked, "A time limit? Why?"

"A journey should be enjoyed by the trips you take in between Shigeru," Teres added.

"Yeah we'll I didn't take this journey for enjoyment. So you two stay in your place and be my groupies."

With that, Gary turned and began walking his way to the Gym until another voice stopped him.

"You're too weak, Shigeru."

All three turned around to see Fuela looking directly at him. Gary's arrogance boiled at such words. Even though he was a beginner, he most certainly was not weak.

"Where we're going is a place for many Trainers to gather so they can train and ready themselves. That's a whole day to strengthen your Pokemon. It's a once in a lifetime experience _and_." Fuela flicked her red bangs as the wind blew through the thick strands. "It'll make your journey much easier afterwards. You _are _on a time limit, right?"

Gary watched the girl in thought as the city's hustle and bustle pervaded the air. He turned back to the Gym and contemplated his options. He could either make a beeline to the Gym and risk a 50/50 chance of winning, along with possibility of seeing Ash. On the other hand he could take this side trip, but lose one to two days of his major goal. However, training would make his Gym Battle easier along with the rest to come...

"*Sigh* So where's this trip?"

* * *

Gary's eyes widened as he and his groupies walked down the long plank towards the world famous S.S. Anne herself.

Once at the entrance of the ship, the girls showed a sailor their ticket (which they apparently had won a few days ago) and pulled Gary in. There, Gary found dozens of Trainers who simply wanted to battle which he found strongly beneficial. Throughout the entire morning he fought other Trainers of many types and chatted with his cheerleaders. For each win, they'd somehow create a new chant to cheer Gary on, which (although he wouldn't admit) motivated him a lot more than he expected.

Midday soon approached and Gary plastered on his signature smirk as he won yet another battle with apparently one of the toughest Trainers on board. The girls cheered and hopped up and down as the seasick old man congratulated gary on his win, but promised that next time he wouldn't hold back.

As they began walking back to their room, the green haired cheerleader, Liet, walked closely to him. She then playfully grabbed his arm and pressed her chest against it much more than Gary expected to be normal.

"That was some battle, Shigeru-san."

'Ah right. She's the only one who calls me that,' Gary thought.

"If you want," she moved closer to his ear, managing to almost place his arm between her breast as she whispered, "you can show me some more of your moves away from the girls."

Gary's eyes widened as a blush creeped up to his face. He turned to Liet, attempting to process exactly what she was asking and instantly understood as she seductively licked her lips and threw him a wink.

"B-but we're sharing the same room with the other girls."

"Then we'll find an empty one for the two of us. Whaddyou say, Shigeru-san?"

As they made it down the hall, Gary watched Liet for another moment then looked down at the end of the stairs; honestly still confused about the whole situation.

"You think there are more Trainers up here?"

"Let's take a look!"

"Ah, but Misty! Are we allowed?"

"Oh quit being such a baby."

Gary's face suddenly turned ten shades of red as he heard the one voice he truly did not expect on this ship. The brunette hopped to the side, pressing his back against the wall as he loudly whispered, "What?! Why is he here?!"

Liana looked down asking, "who?", but Gary pulled her away as well. His eyes widened as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs and, as if by instinct, he ran back up the hall, the girls following him in confusion.

Liet watched Gary settle himself onto a wall and seem to change personality, cooling himself down. She frowned, becoming suspicious at the look on her Shigeru-san's face.

"Just play along," he quickly whispered as he crossed his arms and loudly stated, "and that's how I beat that dumb sailor! Honestly, with such pathetic Pokemon what made him think he'd ever beat a master like me?"

The girls quickly comprehended Gary's act and clapped, complimenting the boy on his so-called victory he was speaking of.

"Gary?! What're you doing here?"

Gary hesitated for only a moment, but turned to Ash in surprise, then began laughing in amusement.

"Well, well! Bonjour Satoshi-kun! Imagine seeing you here!"

Gary walked up to the boy who glared at the brunette.

"How'd you get on here? Only the best are allowed on!"

As Ash was about to retaliate, he suddenly noticed the two other companions behind him.

"Huh? You two are Gym Leaders right? Brock and Misty?"

The two nodded as they smiled towards him.

"Hey Shigeru! I'm actually astonished that you're on here. But you are a great Trainer; especially for beating me," Misty said with a wink.

"Yup. They simply recognized my sheer awesomeness," Gary gloated.

"Yeah Shigeru is the best!" Liana said, running up next to him.

"Well we decided to join Satoshi on his journey. His admiration for Pokemon inspired me to become what I truly desire! A Pokemon Breeder!" Brock cried out.

"And he owes me something, so I'm keeping watch to make sure he makes up for it."

At that, Ash hesitantly chuckled and scratched his nose.

Gary felt that strange pang in his chest again as he obtained this new piece of information. So...Ash made some new friends. For some reason that didn't fit well into his mind.

"And who are they?" Ash asked, looking behind Gary to the group of girls.

Gary blinked out of his thoughts and instantly smirked, saying, "My fanclub."

"_Fanclub_?"

"Yea-up. They know Champions when they see one. Anyway, how's your pokedex coming along? I already caught 40 kinds, pal!"

Ash's eyes widened as his face began to turn red again.

"Wanna see?" he asked, pulling out his pokedex.*

Ash swatted his hand away, quickly stating, "I already have just as much! I don't need to see your pokedex!"

"Oh yeah? Let me see yours then."

Ash glared at Gary again but could not hide his lie. The cheerleaders began to giggle as Gary smirked.

"Thought so. Different types are everywhere Satoshi-kun. Crawl around and maybe you'll catch up to me."

"*Psh* I don't need your advice," Ash said as he tried to make his way around Gary.

"Woah slow down there! We're in S.S. Anne Satoshi-kun~. Didn't you come here to battle?"

Ash turned to Gary who pulled out a pokeball, giving the smaller boy a challenging stare. He continued to watch the brunette for another moment, seeming to debate his options. So for extra motivation, Gary then stated, "I guess that promise you made all those years ago was wrong. You're even too afraid to fight me."

With that, Ash accepted the challenge.

* * *

"Thundershock Pikachu!"

"Dodge it Wartortle! Now finish this with a Headbutt!"

After dodging another Thundershock, Wartortle executed his move and Pikachu fell to the other side of the dock, attempting to get up but fainted.

The girls cheered as Ash placed Pikachu in a pokeball and thanked it for it's hard work. Then, as Ash looked up at Gary, he saw Liet jump on him and kiss him on the cheek; a little too close to his mouth. Gary, in embarrassment, pushed her away, turning red. Liet noticed Gary then quickly look over to Ash, as if waiting for his reaction. But that quickly faded away as Gary put on his snotty facade.

As the moon decided to reach its peak in the sky, Gary leaned his arms on the railing of the ship, staring out into the sea. He was thinking about the times he and Ash would go to the beach. It truly didn't help his mood.

"So, you got a girlfriend?"

Gary turned to Ash who now stood next to him, looking out as well. Could he have been thinking about the same thing?

"It's not like that."

"Huh, and here I thought you would gloat about her and how you get everything before me."

Gary glanced over to Ash, feeling the tension his old friend was beginning to build.

"And you seem to have made some new friends. Funny. We never had any back then. Just you and me," Gary said in the same tone, expressing his feelings on it.

"There's nothing wrong with some friends."

"I guess Pokemon weren't enough for you then."

"Enough for me? What're you-"

"I heard there was a Cut master on board. I battled him before you came around."

"Gary don't change the subject."

"Just listen stupid!" Gary yelled out of anger, turning to the shorter boy.

Now truly looking at him, Gary noticed the boys' burnt sienna eyes almost glistening in the moonlight, even though it was a glare towards him.

"I battled him but found out that he was just some sea-sick old man. Still, Cut is really useful and he'll give you it if you beat him."

Ash watched Gary push off of the railing and begin to make his leave, but Ash grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"You didn't explain yourself yet, Gary."

"There's nothing to explain."

"Of course there is! What did you mean when you said-"

"Shigeeeeru-saaan!"

The two turned to Liet who walked up to them and wrapped her arms around Gary's neck.

"I'm tiiiired Shigeru-san. Come to bed with me."

Gary turned to Ash whose eyes slightly widened but looked away as if to drop the subject. He slowly let go of Gary's wrist and walked away with a simple 'good night'.

Misty waved good bye to the girls as she dragged Brock by the ear to get him away as well, following Ash back into the ship. Gary's eyes followed them until they were no longer in his view, but Liet noticed this and narrowed her eyes at that boy.

"Let's go now Shigeru-san," she whispered as she held Gary's hand and led him inside.

The other girls decided to go back as well, feeling sleepy but wanting to stay up in their room.

The rooms had two bunk beds, so four beds would be taken while the other three had sleeping bags. They could have had separate rooms, but the girls insisted on staying together. Gary argued to sleep in a sleeping bag, but the girls only shook their heads, arguing that they were his groupies and they wanted the best comfort for him. In the end, he was forced to have the top bunk on the left bunk beds.

"Oh, I need to go somewhere for a moment. BRB girls!" Liet said all too merrily.

While the other girls went inside the room, Gary had the urge to go to the bathroom and said he'd be back.

Once releasing the fluids from his body, Gary left the bathroom and was surprised to see Liet standing in front of him.

"I found an empty room Shigeru-san~" she murmured as she pressed her body up against his.

Gary looked away, feeling too upset to even care. He allowed himself to be pulled by Liet, thinking 'what's the point of fighting this? Who's it gonna hurt? Ash obviously doesn't care. Hell, he's already moved on to bigger and better friends.'

Gary watched as Liet picked open the lock to the room and walked in, grabbing Gary's hand and pulling him into the dark room. The green haired cheerleader quickly shut the door and pushed Gary onto the opposite wall, pushing herself onto him so much that Gary almost believed that she was trying to morph into one with him. She began pulling his collar down and kissing up his neck, giving him a strange chill that felt weird but nice.

"Ow," he said as she bit his jaw, slowly moving closer to his lips.

"Don't be a wuss Shigeru-san."

"Don't bite me."

Liet chuckled and grabbed Gary's hands, pulling them to her waist and moving them up her body, pulling her shirt up through the process. Gary then realized something today; he did _not_ like the feel of breast. He became nervous as she made him roughly grip down onto them. Doesn't that hurt?!

Being too preoccupied over her chest, he never noticed her lips grazing over his. She pressed her lips roughly down on his which finally caught his attention. He kept his eyes open, watching Liet practically squirm all over him and wondered if he was supposed to be feeling something good right now.

"Mm-, Liet stop."

Liet complained and tried to place her lips on his again but Gary yanked his arms off of her body and softly pushed her shoulders.

"I said stop, I'm warning you."

"Why do you wanna stop? Am I being too aggressive? I'll slow down."

"No, I don't want this at all."

"Shigeru-san c'mon don't be like that."

"I'm leaving," Gary stated as he walked by her and towards the door.

Liet glared at the brunette and grabbed his wrist, quickly saying, "you like him don't you?"

"What?"

"That boy you fought! You like him! I saw the way you were looking at him!"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"I'll show you what you're supposed to love, you little brat."

At that, Liet yanked Gary around and went down onto her knees, attempting to force his pants down. Gary froze for a moment but kept a firm grip on his clothing, stepping away from her.

"G-get off!"

"If I can't have you no one else will! Especially some stupid boy!"

This was his final limit.

"I said get the hell off, you whore!" Gary yelled as he pushed her off with all of his might.

Liet yelped and hit the side of the bed, falling completely on the floor. She looked up at Gary who opened the door and turned, now glaring at her.

"After tonight, I _never_ want to see your face again."

He left with a slam of the door and made his way back to his room. The girls' noticed Gary's expression and asked what was wrong, but he kept quiet and went onto the top bunk, declaring that he was going to bed.

"Where's Liet?" Liana innocently asked.

"I don't want her sleeping in here tonight," Gary stated as he turned towards the wall; away from everyone.

* * *

Gary awoke to the sudden urge to go to the bathroom. With a groan, he turned and slowly made his way off the bed, keeping his shoes off to not wake the girls.

After using the restroom, he pulled his clothing up then heard someone open the door.

"We can't just look in every room for th'guy."

"Well we can't drop it either. Molesting a girl like that ain't no joke."

Gary paused and very slowly stood on the toilet, listening to the men. They weren't talking about him, right?

"She said the main thing she remembered was his red and white hat. He's a bit of a shorty too. A newbie Trainer with scratches or some scar on his face."

Gary's eyes widened as he noticed that this description best fit his old friend. He tried to think positively but as the description continued, it just sounded more and more like Ash.

"Let's just knock on each door and ask fer tickets. Like a check cuz we have a passenger without one or somethin."

"Yeah. We'll teach that bastard a lesson ourselves. He's just a new kid anyway. No one'll notice him when he disappears."

As the men left, Gary waited a few moments then jumped off the toilet and got out, quickly washing his hands and making a beeline to Ash's room. He had seen Ash in an actual fist fight and knew that although the kid had speed, he didn't have too much strength to back it up. Before he could really create a plan, Gary knocked on the door and waited, hearing someone moving inside.

The door slowly opened as a half asleep Ash popped up from behind, yawning and rubbing one eye.

'Dammit, this moron is still wearing his hat. That would be a dead give away. Why would he do that?'

"Gary? It's 3 in the morning what is it?"

"I-I uhm, uh. H-how did that battle of yours go?"

Ash cocked an eyebrow at the question.

"You're asking me this at 3 in the morning?"

"Well, you know I was busy and I wanted to know how much you screwed up."

Ash sleepily glared but let it pass as he replied, "It went FINE Gary. If you really want to know I can tell you about it tomorrow. Now good night."

As Ash turned and began shutting the door, Gary slipped his hand in and swiped his hat and ran off.

"Garyyy! Ugh! Give it back tomorrow!" Ash yelled out as he shut the door; too tired to be mad.

Gary placed the hat on his head and walked down the hall, feeling his heart racing. Maybe he should grab some of his Pokemon too. He didn't know how many guys were after Ash.

As he walked down another hall realization hit him about what he was planning on doing. Is he insane? Why is he trying to take the blame for Ash? He doesn't even know if Ash actually did do something to someone. Either way, he still didn't plan on changing his mind. Something told him this was the best way to protecting him. Although he didn't understand why he'd go to such measures in doing so.

"Hey kid! What're you doing out so late?"

Gary froze, feeling his heart sink at the men's voices again.

Quickly, Gary stopped at a small table in the hall that had a potted plant and put some of the dirt on his face, trying to make it look like a small scratch on each cheek. He turned towards the men who he regrettably noticed were very tall and muscular sailors who stared at him for a moment in surprise then with anger.

"Hey, we need to talk to you," the sailor stated as he quickly stalked down the hall.

Gary gulped and went into flight or fight mode as he sped through his options.

Once choosing, Gary bolted down the hallway hearing the men yell out then run after him.

* * *

*lol that "wanna see?" always makes me think that Gary's being a pervert XD pulling out his 'pokedex' lol...

A.N. AAAAAND CLIFFHANGERRRR. Lol I feel like this is a decent end for the chapter. I want to make my chapters longer but I don't want to rush writing more (although I'm a decent amount ahead). These seem short though... Is that cool?

I should have more soon. I just want to end it here for now. Will he get away? Will the truth be revealed of who the attacked girl is? Is it severely obvious or am I throwing you in a complete loop that'll make you go OMFG NO WAI?! Figure it out next time on What I've Done For You fanfiction awesomeness!

(Sorry if there are any major mistakes. I'm typing from my iPad and it's hard to move it to FF cuz it moves everything together, and FF starts malfunctioning and crap. Ugh. But for the sake of shipping, I will go through the tedious fixing :P)

R&R. It'll make me write faster. Trust me, it works. I got a bunch of reviews for another story and already made a few chaos for it out of no where lol...


	5. Chapter 5

Wartortle soundly slept in his pokeball, dreaming of playing in a large pool with all of his friends. Gary was there as well and seemed really upset at first but after he continued to bug him, he began to play with Wartortle, pushing the little guy under the water and Wartortle splashing him in return.

A thump, thump, thump, woke up the happy little Wartortle. He came out of his pokeball with a yawn and looked around. The first thing he noticed was Gary missing, his equipment and pokeballs still placed on the edge of the bed.

This, for some reason, gave the water Pokemon an unsettling feeling. But he just shook his head, forcing himself to believe he just went to the bathroom.

Still, he woke Eevee up to go look for their Trainer. Eevee seemed to worry as well so the two went out sniffing for him.

After a few minutes of roaming the halls, the pokemon heard loud thumps and someone cry out; sending a chill down their backs. They quickly ran to the door where the sounds came from and decided to peer in to see what was happening. Wartortle, being taller, stood up and looked through the keyhole. Eevee watched as Wartortle's eyes widened and he began to shake. The little fox poked at him, wanting to see as well. Wartortle quickly picked Eevee up and held him towards the keyhole, allowing Eevee to know what was on the other side.

Through the keyhole, there were two large sailors, one holding someone by their arms and the other looking at the captive person. That person was their Trainer. He was bleeding from his lip and had a few cuts on his face and arms. A bruise was already forming on his cheekbone.

Gary glared at the men and yelled out, "I'm telling you I didn't do anything! She's lying she came on to m-" but he was cut off with another jab to the face.

Eevee quickly wiggled out of Wartortle's grasp and looked down in thought, wondering what to do. Wartortle suggested just ramming in and attacking, but Eevee argued with him, wanting them to be a little more prepared.

* * *

"Don't be an idiot. Why would a lady lie 'bout somethin like that?!"

"She's blackmailing me! Since I didn't wanna get up in her pants, she made it seem like I was attacking her!"

"Oh don't give me that bull!"

The sailor then punched Gary in the stomach, causing the air in the 15 year old to be forced out, making him sharply inhale then cough profusely. As the sailor went for another jab, he paused as he heard the door slam open. As he turned, he was hit by a flood of rushing water to his face then was tripped by something. Gary took this moment of confusion to squirm wildly in the large mans' arms and as he ducked his head down, the blast of water shot to the other man's face as well, causing him to choke on the water and let Gary go.

At that moment, Gary's flight mode activated once again and when he fell to the floor he shot towards the door, grabbing the Pokemon that were still attempting to attack.

"Don't be stupid!" Gary angrily yelled out, firmly holding his two starter Pokemon.

The brunette then made a beeline to his room, knowing that not only were women obviously a weak spot to these sailors, but his girls had Pokemon to assist him as well.

Although they were his fanclub, they were also Trainers.

As he ran, his body finally allowed itself to remind him that his left leg was injured from a swift kick the sailor gave him earlier and Gary had to hiss at the sudden sharp pain but continue to run. They were right behind him.

Finally making it to the door, Gary noticed the door slightly ajar and pushed his body onto it, falling to the floor but instinctively turning in mid fall so as to not harm the Pokemon. The girls quickly awoke to all the sudden clatter as Gary told them to get their Pokemon and fast.

"Arceus, Gary! What happened?" Fuela quickly asked as she went down to his side.

"Liet, that's what."

"What?" Liana said, turning to the green-haired cheerleader who was getting out of her sleeping bag.

"She plotted revenge against me and now I have two stupid men running after me."

All questions stopped as the two soaked sailors came running in, a few Pokemon now following them.

Fuela, being practically the leader if the group, jumped in front of Gary, holding her hands out.

"Woah! Woah time out boys! What's going on here?"

"Excuse me miss, but we have to teach that boy a lesson!"

"What for?! What is his crime?"

The sailor looked at all the girls for a moment then kept his eyes on Liet. He quickly pointed to her and said, "Ask her! She was the one who told us! HE molested her!"

Everyone turned to Gary who was still sitting on the floor, Wartortle now supporting his back and Eevee still in Gary's arm.

Before Gary could explain his side, Liet quickly gasped and said, "No! No! You got the wrong guy! It wasn't him!"

"No one did _anything_ to you! You just wanted to get back at me for not wanting to have sex with you! To teach me a lesson, right?"

Liet turned to Gary and glared at him for a moment. However, her obsession for said boy blew out the anger just s quickly as it came.

"No Shigeru-san, I never wanted you hurt."

"Yes, you did. To 'show me what I'm supposed to love', right?"

"Stop it, Shigeru-san!"

"She took me to an empty room and tried to pull down my pants!"

"You wanted it at first Shigeru-san! You wanted to do this with me because you love me!"

"I _never_ said yes to doing that and I sure as hell would never love you."

The girls were all staring at Liet now, shocked by the sudden outburst. The guilty cheerleader then suddenly turned from innocent to infuriated, pointing to Gary.

"Are you really gonna believe this guy? He wanted to touch me first! He's the one lying! Can't you see how mean he's been to all of us this whole time? It's an even bigger reason as to why he would attack me and then lie about it!"

"I thought you said it wasn't Shigeru who did it," Fuela quickly stated, frowning at the girl.

"He was there too! He was with that other boy! I just didn't wanna rat on Shigeru-san because I love him so much!"

As the lies continued to grow, the sailors seemed to realize their mistake and left without another word. Gary would have preferred an apology, but let them leave, knowing it is most likely for the best. Especially because authorities won't be involved. Fuela and the rest of the girls interrogated Liet and scolded her for her actions and lies. This appeased the brunette, allowing him to feel at ease about tomorrow.

"Here Shigeru, let my Chansey heal you," Niel said, helping Gary sit on the bottom bunk.

As he sat down, he then realized that he was still holding Eevee and dropped him onto the bed, a look of disgust on his face. Eevee didn't mind too much though. He became accustomed to these reactions.

While the Chansey brewed something in her egg to heal Gary's leg, he silently thought of the larger picture of what he had done. He had taken a huge beating for Ash. What's wrong with him? Why stick up for the kid?

Gary shook his frustration away. No, he had no reason to be angry at Ash right now. The little black haired boy probably wouldn't have been able to handle that. He's been treated so wonderfully his whole life that being suddenly accused of molesting someone would have been too extreme for him.

"I got the hat, Shigeru," Liana said, her blonde hair flicking back and forth as she ran in with Ash's hat. She explained that the sailors gave it to her and apologized for disturbing the girls at such a late hour.

Gary thanked her and took the cap, placing it next to him. Niel pulled up a chair and sat on it, slowly pulling up Gary's left leg onto her lap so it could be straight out. He winced at the bend but took several deep breathes to keep himself calm. Unlike Ash, he knew how to handle excessive amounts of pain. This wasn't as bad as a broken bone. Niel then pushed up the pant leg, moving slowly as to not touch the limb.

"Sorry it's taking a while for the potion to brew. It takes longer because you're human."

"'s fine," Gary mumbled.

Soon Chansey smiled and pulled out her egg from her pouch, lightly hitting it against the chair to crack it open. It was a perfect horizontal break and when Chansey took off the top, Gary stated at the blue liquid inside. The pink Pokemon gave Niel the top part of the egg which she held underneath Gary's calf. Chansey carefully angled the egg shell over his bruised limb and poured the liquid onto it.

Gary winced but chuckled, murmuring, "Haa, that hurts. It feels weird."

"Yeah, mostly everyone whose been healed dislikes the feeling."

"It's like I can feel all the strains loosening then forming back together...I'm glad I didn't break anything. That feels even worse."

Niel nodded as she pulled up he top egg shell that was now half full of the blue potion.

"Don't move it for a little while okay, Shigeru?"

"Yeah, yeah. Guess I'm taking the bottom bunk then."

* * *

Before going to bed, Fuela made sure to tell Liet to sleep at the other side of the room, away from everyone.

"Be thankful we didn't just throw you out," Fuela stated and she turned around.  
The green haired girl quietly made her way there, glancing at Gary who only looked away.

Fuela sighed and quietly sat next to Gary on the bed. Gary chose to ignore her, continuing to look at his healing leg in thought. It was a little blue. Ew.

"You did this to protect him, right?"

Gary turned to the fiery redhead who was holding Ash's cap, inspecting it with her eyes. As she went to try it on, Gary snatched it and placed it on his lap.

"I was just going to the bathroom and this all happened. It has nothing to do with him."

Fuela looked at him for a moment then smiled, getting up to go to bed. The simple fact that Ash's hat was with him was proof enough that this story had a larger explanation. But she believed Gary had already gone through enough tonight.

After another deep sigh Gary laid back on his bed, turning away from everyone because he wanted to make sure his left leg was not perturbed by anything and he wanted to think without disruption.

Looking at his watch with a half swollen eye, he sighed (he was beginning to feel old because of all his sighing). One hour left. Perfect.

As he finally began to relax, Gary felt something jump onto the bed then instantly recognized Eevee's paws as he climbed over him; Wartortle soon after. Eevee noticed the bruise on his cheek and eye and instinctively moved up and softly licked the wounded area. This made Gary blush but become frustrated and push the little guy away.

"I don't need that it can heal on its own."

The Eevee frowned but looked away, feeling apologetic about his actions.

The two moved in front of him, lying on their stomachs to stare at the brunette. Gary stared back and frowned.

"I guess I should thank you two, right?"

The two nodded, Wartortle being more excessive about it.

"Well I already repaid the debt so I don't need to."

The two sat up in shock, practically asking when at happened.

"You two idiots were planning on continuing to fight instead of running away once I was free. I saved your lives by grabbing you. Not to mention my stupid natural reflexes that kept you guys from getting hurt when I fell earlier. So we're even."

Wartortle continued to argue about this so called "save", but Eevee simply shook his head, understanding that these small actions were the most affection Gary had ever given them. The small fox Pokemon then circled around himself to get ready for bed. He didn't want to sleep in his pokeball tonight. Wartortle continued to angrily murmur but went into his shell without another word.

Gary watched them for a moment then looked down at his leg. That was when he noticed Ash's cap at the end of his bed. Lazily, he forced himself to sit upright, grab it, then fall back down with a thump. As he laid on his back he inspected the hat, thinking of it's owner and if he was upset for taking it. Ash wasn't one to get upset about small things like that.

'I am...' Gary grimly thought.

With a sigh he placed the cap over his face, hoping to get some sleep. However, after one simple inhale, Gary felt an odd shiver go up his spine. It smelled just like him. The brunette took another whiff and couldn't deny that he absolutely loved his scent. Something about it seemed so welcoming and homely; kind and full of memories; intoxicating and hot...

The brunette's eyes widened and he pulled the hat off his face, turning to his side to prevent anything that was planning on having a reaction. Since when did Ash give him this sort of feeling?

With a hesitant gulp, he brought the cap back to his face, savoring the feelings and memories intertwined with the scent, and for once in a long time, Gary slept peacefully.

* * *

Everyone who was leaving the S. S. Anne either happy or depressed about their wins or losses of the past day. Gary, with a slight limp to his step, silently walked out of the ship choosing to ignore the glorious sunrise that was occurring to his right. Although most his cuts and bruises were almost fully healed; some needing band aids but others being allowed to heal on their own; he still had the extreme bruise on his leg that decided to reveal itself once he awoke. It was a good thing his pants were able to hide it. His face, however, could not hide the slight black and blue halo sported around his right eye socket.

The group stopped at the end of the boardwalk and turned to Liet, who kept her eyes firmly fixated on the ground. Gary kept his distance from the girl, making sure not to look in her direction, but still allow her to view what she had done to him.

"We've left some equipment in here. Just in case anything happens," Fuela calmly stated.

Liet looked up at Fuela; shock in her eyes. Before she could argue, the bag was tossed to her. Liet looked at all the girls who seemed to have mixed emotions of sadness and pity. However, determination was the dominant expression on their faces. They have already accepted this choice.

Her eyes soon ended on Gary and she couldn't help but to regret her actions.

Seeing all the cuts and bruises on someone she loved so much broke her heart. Yet it was worse than that for she was the one who did this to him.

"I'm...really sorry, Shigeru-san..."

She wanted to continue her apology but the look of utter disgust on Gary's face as he stared down at her feet forced her to stop. Even her voice brought him frustration.

Without another word, Liet left in the direction towards Vermilion City, bringing the cheerleader count down to five.

"Gary!"

The brunette boy flinched at Ash's voice calling him and quickly gave Liana Ash's hat.

Ash watched as the two spoke then the blonde nodded, running over to Ash.

"Here ya go Satoshi-kun!" Liana happily stated as she gave him his cap back.

Ash thanked Liana (politely asking her not to add the '-kun') and took the hat, placing it in its natural location on his head. But he looked past the blonde cheerleader toward's Gary who had his back towards him. Why wasn't he looking at him? Was he still upset over their little spat last night? Ash threw out the idea, knowing that Gary had a temper but not bad enough to become frustrated over something so small.

"So you're too scared to face me, huh Gary?"

Gary scoffed but didn't turn to Ash. He had no reason to look at the boy and Ash surely had no reason to see his wounded face. He didn't know whether Ash would make fun of him or worry and the thought of either situation occurring upset Gary, for in his mind both events seemed as if they would end badly.

Gary walked straight to the Pokemon Center in Vermilion to heal his Pokemon, hoping that Ash wasn't following. Once assured that he wasn't, Gary calmly made his way to the store, feeling like he deserved to restock after all those battles on S.S. Anne. He earned enough money to waste a couple bucks anyway.

After he and the girls bought what they needed, Gary made his way to the automatic doors, feeling pumped for the Gym Battle that was just ahead. He had no worries. He already knew what was coming and his plan for beating the leader. But as he left the Pokemart, he came face to face with his rival, not realizing the presence of the boy early on.

The two made eye contact for a split second before Gary quickly turned away and sped walked to the direction of the Gym; his cheerleaders in tow. However, that was a bit of a mistake as he hissed at the sudden jolt his leg created and had to slow down.

"Wait Gary! Are you hurt?" Ash called out as he followed.

"Go away, Ash."

"Where did you get that black eye?"

"I don't have one!"

"And your limping... What happened to your leg?"

"I just tripped it's nothing."

"Is this why you wouldn't let me see you earlier?"

"What're you talking about? I just get tired of seeing your face all the t-"

"Gary stop joking! Let me see your face!" Ash called out as he grabbed the brunette's shoulder.

Gary yanked his arm away, replying, "You know what a bruise looks like!"

"So you DO have one! Let me take a look at it."

"You have no reason to look at me! I'm fine!"

"Stop being stupid, Gary!"

Lightly growling, Gary pivoted and glared directly into Ash's eyes, causing the boy to freeze in his place. He stared into Gary's eyes for a moment before looking at the bruised eye then the rest of his face; observing the cuts on his cheek, a band aid on the other, and a busted bottom lip that was diagonal to his black eye.

"What. What the hell, Gary?"

"Don't be so shocked."

"How can I not be?! Were you in a fight in S.S. Anne?"

"Nice investigating detective? How long'd it take you to think that up?"

Ash glared at Gary then asked again, "what happened?"

Gary roughly sighed, putting his hand through his hair.

"Nothing!"

"Nothing."

"I just got into a little brawl with a couple of guys."

"A couple?!"

"Look I took care of it! After I defeated them in a Pokemon battle, they got so pissed that they just attacked me! But even as one person I beat them without a problem."

"That's not what your face is telling me."

"Either way, I'm up and kicking."

"You mean limping."

"Ash, what do you care?"

Ash stayed quiet for a moment, frowning at his hurt rival.

"Did you at least tell the police or something?"

"Always the 'goody two shoes', huh? Of course not."

"What? Why the hell not?!"

Both groups watched as the two argued about practically nothing. Misty and Brock looked over to the cheerleaders who simply shrugged, not knowing what to say.

"Ash didn't I tell you this before? I don't need you! Not for Gramp's Pokedex; not for this!" Again that ache from the last time he spoke these words appeared. Although he didn't comprehend it, he felt like that was all a lie.

"You should be preoccupied on simply becoming the Champion; or rather, being better than me and since we both know that that's IMPOSSIBLE for you, I suggest you bring up your game."

"Hey, I'm just as strong as you are Gary!"

"Ha! Don't make me laugh! If you're so strong the prove it Satoshi-kun~"

Ash simply stood there quietly, letting his anger grow and burn enough to make his cheeks rosy. He opened his mouth to retort but shut it, exhaling through his nose. The blackette angrily looked down at his feet, then to the right, then turned around and walked back to the store without another word. Brock looked back and forth between the two then followed Ash, leaving Misty to stare at Gary. He watched her with a stoic expression as she frowned and shook her head, following Ash as well.

With a huff, Gary pivoted again and continued to the Gym, debating who he had just hurt more: Ash or himself.

* * *

A.N. And break. Yeah I'm cutting it here. Next will be a snippet from the Gym Battle then off to Diglett's Cave! (Smartest Gym Leader ever. Have an electric type gym right next to Diglett's cave lol jeez...) But if you remember, when you go through Diglett's Cave, there's this dude who you can trade Pokemon with. I'm actually planning on making him a wee bit important lol (I lol because that is sarcasm my friends). It might change up the natural storyline but I want it this way and it's fanfiction and my story so I'm fine.

Also, after that dude, there's the next city (I'm skipping the Power Plant to get through the story a little faster) Very big event goes on there! If you know the next one and what it's famous for then you can guess what kind of event it'll be.

Read and Review D: tell me what's good and what's not! If something seems off! What got you angry! What made you happy! I wanna know what you think about it just in general. Reviews are like X Speed and X Accuracy for me. Brings up my speed and accuracy to write. :P

Thanks for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

"Raichu, Mega Punch!"

"Geodude, go underground and hurry!"

The Geodude obeyed it's trainer and quickly slammed it's body into the metal ground, being strong enough to actually rip through it with ease. Gym Leader Surge's eyes widened at the power of his opponent, but he waited to see where it would be coming out of.

Gary, on the other hand, slipped his shoe off and placed his foot firmly on the ground, his eyes shut. After a few weeks of training Geodude with his move Dig, Gary was finally able to understand and feel where the pokémon was just by feeling the vibrations on the ground.

In his mind, he followed Geodude as he moved around the floor then stopped only inches away from Raichu. The electric pokémon seemed to notice this as well and Gary knew it fell for the bait.

"Now, Geodude!"

"Mega Punch to your left now!"

As Raichu slammed down to where it believed Geodude was, Gary smirked as he watched the pieces of the floor push up of where it hit. The Raichu's eyes widened and in that split second of confusion, Geodude shot up from behind Raichu and tackled it with full-throttle force.

The Raichu fainted before it could hit the ground.

"Very slick trick Shigeru! I can truly say you deserve this ThunderBadge!"

As Gary was about to properly thank him, he heard a voice that he could not label as a good or bad thing for him. Raw sienna eyes abruptly clicked to the small audience that was made for the battle. Looking past his fan club, he saw his rival having a small argument with the Cerulean Gym Leader. Then burnt sienna eyes met with his and Gary had to look away; back to the Gym Leader holding the ThunderBadge towards him.

"U-uhm, heh! Well it was a piece of cake! Thanks!"

Gary took the badge and showed it off to his cheerleaders who cheered louder and ran towards him.

Surge curiously watched The Trainer that was so kind earlier and was now acting so cocky.

"Shigeru, you sure have become...confident."

"Well, there wasn't any doubt. But thanks anyway!" Gary stated all too confidently, disliking himself for showing such disrespect to an elder.

Surge could tell Shigeru was acting this way because someone important was here. It couldn't be his group because he came with them and was very respectful. So it must be someone in the audience.

"Well... Good luck on your journey. I wish you the best!"

"Please, it's not about luck! Just pure skill."

Before leaving, Gary turned to the crowd again and glanced over to Ash. making sure to keep him riled up, he winked at Ash and laughed, making the boy angry.

With that, Gary left the Gym and went straight to the car, not talking to anyone along the way. His cheerleaders were right behind him and jumped in, continuing to congratulate him on his win.

Once they were settled, Fuela drove towards Route 11 and was ordered to not stop.

He knew he was getting strange feelings towards Ash; he clearly understood that. He wanted to stay back there and be close to Ash and, if necessary, argue, just to be able to talk to him.

But as much as he wanted this, at the same time he wanted to stay away from him. Although he didn't understand this feeling, he knew it was positive and loving towards the boy and that would ruin Ash's future as a Pokémon Trainer and a Champion.

Gary had to remind himself why he was even on this journey and why Ash had done it as well: Gary did it so Ash would not feel worthless. It was something he promised himself to do ever since they were children and he wasn't planning on breaking that promise. And for Ash, it was to be better than Gary. If there was another reason, Gary didn't know about it yet.

So to make sure this would all go accordingly, he had to keep Ash infuriated. And the way Ash was worrying about his injuries didn't help at all.

Sliding his hands through his bright, brunette hair and lightly slapped his cheeks, mentally focusing himself on the task at hand. He had to get away from Vermilion City.

To Diglett's Cave.

* * *

(**A.N.**- This might confuse some people because I changed it up a bit. Remember that house that was right next to The Viridian Forest on Route 2? The one you can't reach unless you have Cut? The other way to get there is through Diglett's Cave and it just has some dude who trades Mr. Mime for a Clefairy. That moment isn't too significant but I decided to change that because I NEED to bring in an important character [to me he is])

Liana quickly ran out of the exit to the cave, holding her arms out to the welcoming sun.

"Finally, we're out! Ugh! I never wanna see another Diglett ever again!"

"It's not our fault you're only carrying electric types!" Teres said with a big smile.

"Nuh uh! I got other types..."

"Yeah, and they all have electric type moves."

Teres absolutely adored ground and rock types and caught a few Diglett and Dugtrio along the way.

"We're lucky Shigeru was with us. Without that Wartortle of his, we would've been toast," Fuela stated, smirking at the pun of her own preferred type.

"Hey, you guys are with me as a fan club. Don't put me into your group," Gary said as he looked around for a place to rest.

Fuela smiled at the retort and simply replied, "Yes, almighty one."

Gary ignored the comment and noticed a house up ahead.

"Look. Let's see if we can heal up over there."

The group of 6 walked towards the house, seeing the backyard first. After walking around it, they reached the front porch and Gary knocked on it, shoving his hands in his pockets afterwards.

Everyone then heard many noises from inside the house. Although most were too difficult to describe, most were loud bangs as if someone was falling down the stairs.

The group took a step back as the door quickly opened but still had the chain so only some of the person was seen, revealing a very tall man with short, black hair. His eyes were underlined by multiple bags underneath, giving the impression that this man has never heard of sleeping.

He was quickly whispering many things and eventually he became loud enough to hear.

"_Bulbasaur, Jigglypuff, Persian, Abra, Tentacool, Dewgong, Audino, Kangaskhan, Pinsir, Electabuzz, Dratini, Typhlosion, Deerling, Turtwig, Igglybuff, Umbreon, Gligar, Chimchar, Donphan_-"

"The guys' nuts," whispered Liana as she took another step back.

The door slammed shut and the chain was heard as it was quickly taken off. It then abruptly opened, revealing what seemed like a completely different person. Although he looked the same, he now seemed cheerful and welcoming.

"Hello there! Are you all Trainers?! _Tropius, Absol, Luvdisc_."

Gary blinked and could only nod. The man's eyes suddenly seemed to glimmer as his smile widened.

"Ah, perfect perfect! _Metagross, Chingling, Starly_. You came from Diglett's Cave, right? _Luxray, Shieldon, Combee_. Would you like to heal your pokémon here? A-and possibly trade? _Ambipom, Gastrodon, Cherrim_."

"Uhm..." Gary looked around at the girls who stared back at him, waiting for his decision.

Well...they did need to heal...

"Uhm, we need a Pokémon Center. Any close by?"

"Nope, nope! _Shellos, Dugtrio, Drifloon, Mesprit_. If you need to heal, I have a healing machine! Hopefully the injuries aren't too bad? _Sandslash, Oddish, Meowth._"

Gary shook his head then asked, "sir? Are you alright?"

The man blinked, obviously confused by the question.

"Why do so many people ask me that question? I'm perfectly fine! _Poliwag, Poliwrath_."

"Well...you're naming Pokémon. Some that might not even be real..." Gary continued, feeling a little nervous. He wasn't fond of crazy people. You never knew what they would do next.

"Oh, they're all real. I've made a list! See, I have a bunch of friends worldwide and they send me different types of Pokémon and explain about the many different types! _Machamp, Trubbish, Rapidash_."

Everyone stayed quiet as the older man simply smiled, staring at Gary. This was when Gary thought that it might be better to risk more Pokémon attacks rather than walking into the house of a psycho.

The man stretched out his hand, quickly saying, "My James's Brad. _Bagon, Banette, Bayleef, Blaziken_. And you?"

After odd introductions, Brad led the group to the healing machine and allowed each one to use it. The entire time, he was murmuring the names of many Pokémon from many different regions. He then sped walked into the kitchen without another word.

"He even said some from Sinnoh and Hoenn," Fuela whispered as she finished healing her team.

"I don't know that many," Gary honestly stated as he leaned against the wall next to the machine.

"Well, you've just started your journey so that's fine," Niel said as she played with her pink tufts of hair.

"We've been around so we know a good amount."

"But then there were some that he seemed to make up," Liana added, letting her Abra sit on her shoulders.

"They were real." Gary turned to Kuron, the black haired cheerleader that didn't speak too much.

"They were from the Unova region. That's pretty far from here so you guys wouldn't know about those."

"How do you?" Liana asked.

"I'm from there."

"Ooh~!" all the girls said in unison.

"You guys are a group and didn't even know where she came from?" Gary asked.

"I don't talk much. Don't blame them," Kuron added.

"I'm back with snacks and drinks! _Venonat, Paras, Illumise_," Brad said as he walked in with a large plate full of many...well, snacks and drinks.

"Don't worry, everything is packaged and sealed up so I didn't poison anything."

Placing it down n the coffee table, Brad continued to brightly smile, asking if they would like to sit on the couches surrounding the small table.

Gary decided to sit and rest for a moment, which made the girls follow suit. Brad was right.

Everything was indeed encased and popular food items, which made them quite safe.

"So, do any of you have a C-Clefairy?"

Niel and Gary stated that they did as they looked up at the man whose expression now seemed anxious.

"Oh! Well, uhm, forgive my sudden question. _Dragonite, Elekid_. I just adore trading Pokémon! Would any of you two like to trade it for a Growlithe?"

"Oh," Gary looked at his cheer leading squad again, who were now munching on snacks.

Fuela nodded and said, "what's the harm? And it's a fire type!"

* * *

Thanking Brad, Gary and his groupies left the house with many snacks and a knowledge of some other types of Pokémon from around the world. Not to mention a new Pokémon to add into this pokedex of his.

While walking through the empty field, Gary's curiosity bested him and made him release the fire dog from its pokeball.

The Growlithe silently appeared, looked for an opponent and when there was one, he turned to Gary. The brunette's eyes widened at the little animal's eyes. The first thing he compared it to was the color of the sky on a bright, clear day.

The wind blew past the two as they simply stared at each other.

'What...is up with this Pokémon?' Gary thought.

The boy roughly shook his head, forcing himself back into reality.

"So, Growlithe, huh? You look pretty weak."

Gary expected the little guy to become angry or sad, but it simply continued looking at him, as if it was analyzing it's Trainer.

"Oh, just make it stronger Shigeru. Plus, he's a cutie!" Fuela said as she softly petted him.

This broke Growlithe's stare as it looked up at the redhead.

Gary frowned. The dog wasn't looking at her the way it was looking at him.

'Well, I did get it from that weirdo, Brad...' Gary thought.

"I don't care if something is cute. It better become strong. Return, Growlithe," Gary sternly said.

As the red beam of light shot to the Pokémon, Growlithe gave Gary one final glance.

Gary cringed at his eyes and wondered how long he would keep this Pokémon.

* * *

(**A.N.** I originally wasn't gonna put this in but I wanted to give a little teaser to the next chapter. :) so here it is!)

* * *

...Only one word could explain today. Just one.

Gary emotionlessly looked at the people who sat on the pews, watching the man who spoke for the deceased.

Tears. Too many today...No. Not enough.

Gary hadn't shed one.

Only one word could explain today. And that one word pertained to Gary more than anyone else: Unforgivable.

* * *

R&R please! Tell me if I made any major or silly mistakes. And just REVIEW. It gives me brain juices! Like...slushies...


	7. Chapter 7

(A.N. Ok, so people kept bringing up this whole Raticate thing and I was confused about it so I looked into it. I read the whole story of it and ehhh lol I don't like the way it's put out. So I changed it up :) SORRY FOR LYING BUT I GUESS I WILL ADD RATICATE. But yeah, ok, here we go.)

* * *

...Only one word could explain today. Just one. Gary emotionlessly looked at the people who sat on the pews, watching the man who spoke for the deceased. Tears. Too many today...No. Not enough. Gary hadn't shed one. Only one word could explain today. And that one word pertained to Gary more than anyone else: Unforgivable.

* * *

~The Day Before~

"Dammit, why must this place be so difficult?!" Gary yelled out as he leaned against a rock wall.

"Well, this is the infamous Rock Tunnel, Shigeru," Fuela said as she sighed and moved next to him.

The group had been fighting their way through the cave, hoping to eventually find the exit to Lavender Town. But this place was making Gary go crazy! If he saw one more Zubat...

Gary was broken out of his thoughts as his Wartortle trotted up to him, sitting down by one of his legs and leaning roughly on it. Gary would have pushed him off if he didn't notice how tired the small Pokémon was. Wartortle was using water type moves back to back and he was running out of steam. Excluding him, Niel was the only other one who had any water types on them. But that didn't stop the other girls from fighting. Still, everyone was extremely tired.

For some reason, the Onix were a lot more aggravated than usual. They were going around the cave attacking any and all Trainers and Pokémon. Apparently something or someone rubbed these guys the wrong way and made them go berserk. Gary would love to meet the idiot who made this happen.

That was when his Raticate decided to trot up, glaring up to his Trainer. He caught this Pokémon a while back and it was getting stronger. However, it wasn't really the best fighter. not to mention it had an attitude problem (much like himself).

Gary glared right back at the Pokémon, saying, "oh what? What're you pissed about now? I'm seriously tired of your damn attitude."

The Pokémon's glare deepened and it began to yell at him, pointing to where they came from.

It was probably referring to what happened earlier. Gary was fighting against a Zubat and called out Raticate to fight. But the Pokémon had this habit of continuously missing all of its attacks, which aggravated Gary and forced him to insult the little guy and call him back, using Eevee to fight instead. This was happening way too often and truthfully, it was getting on Gary's last nerve.

"Look it's not my fault you're accuracy is so damn low. So please shut up about it."

Suddenly, the cave began to rumble as more Onix zoomed by ahead of them. They now did not attack people directly, but were simply rushing through and taking down everything in their way. When they'd reach a wall, they would smash into it then turn to another direction. Luckily, they were all too far off to hit any of them at the moment.

"Shigeru, just leave him alone! At least he tries!" Liana said as she tried to catch herself before she fell.

"Yeah, well, it's obviously not good enough! So either stop complaining and get stronger or get the hell out of here," Gary said, ignoring the fact that he was being extremely rude to the Pokémon.

But he felt his conscious clear as he knew that they deserved this type of treatment anyway.

The Raticate once again yelled at Gary but Gary rolled his eyes, interrupting him and saying, "I don't understand you! Here, just- return."

Gary held out the pokeball, assuming it would return without a problem, but the Pokémon managed to force itself out, not wanting to be in it.

Gary was getting more and more irritated by this Raticate. No. All Pokémon in general! He wanted a break from all of them. And soon.

Another rumble caused Gary to look up at the ceiling, watching as some of the boulders at the top were moving. It wouldn't cave in, would it?

Raticate took this moment to let out it's fury and do a full-throttle tackle to Gary. At least just one to teach the boy a lesson!

However, Wartortle noticed the attack early on and jumped in the way to try and stop the hit. But Wartortle's body was simply pushed onto Gary, airing him out and slamming him onto the wall.

Gary coughed a moment, holding his stomach and bending down a bit. The girls watched as he was about to scold Raticate as if there was no tomorrow, but they all paused as they heard Wartortle cry out in quite an unpleasant way.

Gary looked down at his Pokémon and gasped as he noticed a crack in Wartortle's shell. The small turtle was cringing as his eyes watered, placing his hands over the area.

Gary looked up at Raticate, anger flowing through his eyes. Raticate looked frightened at what he did but stared back at Gary, seeming to not be too sorry for what he just did.

"...Leave. Now."

Raticate's eyes widened and he was about to retort but Gary cut him off.

"I said leave! I'm releasing you! So get the hell out of here!" Gary yelled as he picked up Wartortle, attempting to be fragile.

The Pokémon glared at Gary once again before screeching at him then running off. Although it was angry, Raticate began to cry, feeling disappointed in himself and his weaknesses.

The girls could only silently watch, understanding why Gary released it but also feeling sorry for it. Every Pokémon Gary caught wanted to hit him a least once...

Gary looked down at Wartortle, frowning at the crack on it's shell. Luckily, the hit didn't pierce Wartortle's skin so there was no blood. Still, his stomach was now vulnerable and the break obviously was hurting the small turtle. Can that heal?

"Here, let Chansey take a look at him," Niel quickly said, walking next to Gary and releasing Chansey from her pokeball.

Suddenly, another harsh tremor started and seemed to come from the left side of the cave. Gary looked up and saw Raticate still walking away, fading into the darkness of the cave. As the cave continued to violently shake, a sudden explosion occurred on the left wall, making the group fall down. Gary managed to land on his elbow, making sure Wartortle didn't hit the ground at all. But they had no time to relax as the screech of another Onix pervaded the air.

The girls covered their ears but Gary endured it for the sake of the Pokémon in his arms. He knew he would scold Wartortle about this later.

Tightly gritting his teeth, Gary looked up to try and find the Onix, hoping it wasn't coming for them. But he watched with wide eyes as it was heading straight for his Raticate who was lying on the ground.

Gary screamed at smaller Pokémon to watch out, but the screech overpowered his voice. He couldn't even hear himself!

Gary watched as Raticate was hit by the Onix, making him fly to the other side of the cave. The sound of any impact wasn't even heard as the screech was just too loud.

The next thing they heard was the slam of the Onix hitting another wall then turning another direction.

Loudly cursing, Gary looked over to see if he could spot the Pokémon. He saw nothing but dust and dirt in the air.

As the ringing in their ears began to fade, the girls uncovered their ears and got up, walking to the direction Raticate fell to.

"Do you see him?" Liana asked as she childishly put her finger in her ear to try to clear the noise from it.

"Hey there's no time for that!" Teres yelled as she pointed to the ceiling of the cave. Everyone looked up and saw the rocks violently moving. The roof was going to cave in.

"This way, c'mon!" Fuela yelled out as she pointed towards a path that was probably made by an Onix.

The girls all quickly ran in, Gary right behind them. But he paused as he noticed his Raticate lying on the floor, looking quite hurt. Gary looked down, wondering whether to risk his life to help the Pokémon.

Even though that Raticate frustrated him, he was still a being who was wounded.

Gary quickly put Wartortle in it's pokeball and turned to Raticate, calling out, "Just get into the ball! Return!"

But the Raticate merely turned away Gary, going against the Trainer's choice.

"Don't be stupid! The top is gonna cave in so let me help you!"

Suddenly the rumbling started again, giving Gary the assumption that another Onix was coming.

"Hurry you idiot! _Return_!"

Gary held out the ball but nothing happened, Raticate once again rejecting it.

"You seriously would rather _die_ that come with _me_?!"

Although everything was happening so quickly, Gary felt like his mind slowed down as the Raticate looked up at him, seeming too weak to stand.

It no longer was glaring at him, but merely watching him. The look disturbed Gary as he could not comprehend what it meant, but it made him quite depressed...

A boulder came down and slammed against the ground, startling Gary. He gave the Pokémon one final look before running out of the area, hearing another screech of an Onix.

'Fine. He wants to die? Let him die then. I won't feel sorry for that thing,' Gary thought.

The brunette caught up with his group, slowing down to a stop as they took a breath. Gary put his hands through his hair, keeping his eyes on the floor as the thought of that Pokémon's eyes ran through his mind. It continued to give him a sickening feeling in his stomach.

"He...he didn't wanna come along," Gary said out loud to no one in particular.

The girls looked back at him, watching as Gary kept his gaze stuck to his feet. He felt...horrible. Did he really just let the Pokémon die...? No...it chose this path. It wasn't his fault. It was the Pokémon. It decided to be stupid. He tried to help!

Just when Gary thought he had time to relax, another Onix suddenly appeared behind them, coming in fast.

"Oh come on! Give us a break!" Gary called out as he began running, the girls right next to him.

They ran as fast as they could but the Onix was catching up fast. Gary looked back, watching as it came closer; it's mouth wide open and charging at full speed.

However, as Gary contemplated whether this was going to be his death or not, a sudden blast from the right hit the Onix and made him swerve, slamming it into the wall to their left. This seemed to have caused a major shake in the cave as everything began to move and some areas began to crumble.

The group slowed down then turned around, wondering who their savior was. Gary was the first one to run over to see and was surprised at what he found.

He saw a Pokémon and no Trainer. But it was a Pokémon he had never seen before. It was tall and blue and black, somewhat looking like a fox. The thought of pulling out his pokédex went through his mind, but the idea faded as his life felt more important than finding some information.

"That's a Lucario!" Kuron said as they ran up to it.

The Lucario nodded and quickly pointed behind itself, yelling out its name as if it could actually communicate with them. The way Lucario's voice sounded made it audible that it was a female.

"What? Is the exit that way?" Liana quickly asked.

Lucario nodded and looked around for a moment before leading them to the exit.

As they ran, Gary noticed the shape the cave was in. Everything was beginning to fall apart as Onix were heard ramming through the walls. This Pokémon must be helping people escape.

Gary thought about all the people who might still be stuck in this cave and felt scared at what might happen. He wanted to get out as soon as possible. He never wanted to go through here again and hoped that Ash never would either.

That was when a sudden chill of fear ran down his back. One question suddenly resonated through his head as he stopped right before the exit: is Ash in here?

All the girls ran out, feeling relieved to be out in the open. There were other Trainers right on the outside who were helping each other, a couple going up to the girls and telling them to back away from the cave.

Gary walked out after them and looked around, hoping to see that familiar face. If he wasn't out here, he either was in the cave or hadn't gone through it yet. But remembering the pace Ash had been going lately made him pretty sure that Ash must be close behind. Could he still be inside?!

As the girls turned, they panicked as they saw Gary running back inside.

"Shigeru get out there! What're you doing?!" Fuela called out.

Lucario called out as well, running back in and grabbing Gary's arm.

Gary pulled his arm away and replied, "wait! I have to check if... if Ash is in here!"

"That rival of yours?! What makes you think he's in there?" Liana asked.

"I don't know! Just- just a feeling."

Lucario shook her head, yelling at Gary in a way that seemed to tell him to stop being so foolish. But Gary glared at her then said, "look, whether you like it or not, I'm going back to look for him! It's just to check!"

Lucario stared at Gary for a moment, seeming to test his motivation.

"Shigeru, you're acting crazy! Even if he is in there, what makes you think you'll have enough time to get him?" Fuela added, getting frustrated at Gary.

"And I thought you kind of hated him so why do you care so much?" Liana innocently added.

Gary looked over to her, suddenly becoming very angry at such an assumption.

"I never said I hated him! I never could! Look- just, just forget it, I'm going!"

As Gary was about to run off, Graveler ran over to him, wanting to help as well. Gary was hesitant at first but nodded and added, "ok, but no slowing me down!"

Gary quickly gave Wartortle's pokeball to Niel and asked her to take care of him and that he would be right back. He allowed the rest of his Pokémon to stay out of their pokeballs to help others and to stay out of harms way. Giving the group one last look, Gary ran back in, hoping his rival was safe.

Eevee watched from the entrance as he and Graveler got ready to run back deep inside the crumbling cave. Although the small fox wanted to help, he knew that he would just be an inconvenience to the two. He also knew there was no way to stop Gary from going back in... The small fox nibbled on its lip, hoping that his Trainer would be safe.

With a deep sigh, Lucario decided to help them in their search. She was already running in and out of here to help others anyway. So helpers really wouldn't be too much of a problem. As long as they didn't get in her way.

The three of them ran through the cave, looking as far as they could into the cave to find any others.

As they searched, Gary called out Ash's name, yelling as loudly as he could over the rumbling of Onix moving around.

Suddenly, a few of them began screeching, which caused the group to cover their ears. One screech was bad enough, but multiple ones gave Gary a headache, making him feel slightly disoriented.

With a slight push, Lucario managed to catch Gary's attention and led the way deeper into the cave. She would run ahead and quickly search the place for any humans or trapped Pokémon. Luckily, she found none. Maybe the place was now empty.

"Satoshi!" Gary yelled out again. The fact that Ash hadn't replied back was lifting the heavy weight off his chest and he began to assume that maybe he wasn't in the cave.

"I- I don't think he's in here," Gary said to Graveler as he tried to keep his footing.

When he looked over to said Pokémon, he was confused by the way he was watching the floor. Suddenly, the giant rock Pokémon tackled Gary to the ground.

The teen was about to yell at his Pokémon but fell silent as an Onix broke through the ground at the exact spot he was standing on.

It stayed erect for a few moments then looked over to the group. It's eyes were an empty white and it looked as if it was almost in a trance.

The three of them stood still for a moment then watched as it began to fall back. Gary was confused by this action but panicked as he realized it was now coming towards them. It was going to hit them!

Gary quickly got up and ran, Lucario ahead of him and Graveler right behind.

Looking ahead, he could see the shadow of the enormous Pokémon hovering over him and getting larger. Out of utter fear, Gary shut his eyes but continued to move, yelping as he heard the slam of the Pokémon's body hitting the ground.

The slam caused him to hop up and fall onto his stomach, but he still managed to quickly get up and continued to move. Lucario then paused and grabbed Gary's arm, trying to talk to him but obviously failing.

Still, Gary could see that she wanted to leave and he had no argument against that. But before they could go, Gary took one last look around. It seemed that every other exit or entrance was now blocked off, except for the way they came. Even if he wanted to, there was no way he could look for Ash. He had to go back.

The three began to run back, Gary now accustomed to the shaking of his surroundings. They ran around the Onix that tried to smash them as it tried to turn towards them. But they luckily managed to evade its line of sight. This oddly made the Onix forget all about them and turn the opposite direction, slamming into another wall.

Boulders were now falling all around them and Gary could clearly hear different sections of the cave breaking down. It was like a large, nonstop roar of a Pokémon.

The boy tried his best to not look back, but the 'roar' continued to get louder and soon enough, he forced himself to turn around to see what was happening.

His eyes widened at the mounds of dirt and rock falling behind him, coming closer each second.

'The whole damn cave was collapsing!' Gary thought in a panic.

He turned back and tried to run faster, but his chest and feet were burning and he was way too far from the exit. He could see the light but knew this would be impossible to make it there on time.

Was this really it? Dying in some stupid cave for a stupid mission he went on? One that he didn't even WANT. All for the sake of a friend? The stupidity of Gary's actions finally came to mind, and as the brunette fell down, he had to wonder why he was so eager to help Ash. To sacrifice all his life choices for him...

The sound managed to reach him, roaring loudly above his head. Gary could only panic and cover his head, awaiting for the impact. ...Yet there was none.

The sounds of falling boulders and dirt resonated around him, yet he didn't feel any of it.

Once the sounds stopped, Gary hesitantly pulled his hands off of his head and looked up. The first thing he noticed was that the exit to the cave was almost completely barricaded. But with enough effort, he could slip through.

He then hurt grunts behind him and quickly turned to see Lucario and Graveler holding up a giant piece of rock that was most likely a part of the ceiling. That one piece managed to hold up a section that led to the exit. Luck seemed to be on their side. However, the two were struggling to hold it up.

"Shigeru!"

Gary quickly turned toward the exit, seeing Fuela through the path of rubble and behind the pile of rocks. Gary was about to crawl his way through but when he placed his hand down on one rock, it lightly sunk down as so did the rest around them. Gary froze, feeling himself shaking out of fear.

"Don't move! We'll think of something!" She said as she ran back towards the girls.

Gary wanted to yell at them to hurry, but he was too afraid to even speak. Everything around him was pitch silent except for the Pokémon behind him and murmurs from the exit. He looked back at the Pokémon again, noticing that Lucario was beginning to sweat and her arms were lightly shaking.

Suddenly, Liana's voice came through, making Gary quickly turn to her.

"Ok, my Abra knows Confusion. That can take you out without touching anything if we're really careful!"

Teres then pushed her way through and added, "And don't worry about Graveler! He's a rock type and can Dig so he can get out last!"

Graveler nodded, agreeing to the statement.

"What about Lucario? She's holding it up with Graveler," Fuela added from behind. The group then turned and began discussing what to do, but they were too far to clearly hear.

After what felt like a few minutes, Liana came back to the front and explained, "the only thing we can really think of is if Graveler can hold it on his own for just a few seconds and I quickly pull her out, or she goes into the hole with Graveler! First things first, let's get you, Shigeru!"

Liana looked over to her Abra and moved away so it could concentrate on slowly moving Gary.

The psychic Pokémon climbed onto one rock and looked right at Gary. Then after a few moments, his arms slowly raised up as his hands began to glow.

Gary gasped at the sudden feeling but felt himself slowly being pulled off of the ground then pulled to the direction of the exit. The boy didn't move a muscle, but he felt Abra move his arms and legs to get through tighter areas. Soon enough, he reached the exit and Abra jumped back, levitating back with Gary still held. Once his body was completely out, Teres and Kuron grabbed him before he fell onto the ground.

Gary let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding then turned towards the entrance to see what would happen with the others.

The two still inside were apparently discussing what to do, and soon enough agreed to one idea.

"Will you go with Graveler?" Liana asked.

Lucario shook her head.

"So this way then?"

Lucario nodded.

"Right. Lucario has high agility. She can just make a run for it then Abra can grab her halfway," Kuron said.

Gary got up and moved next to Abra, deciding to also help by grabbing her hands when she came close, just in case the Confusion wasn't fast enough. He held his hands out right outside of the cave and looked right at Lucario.

Although he hated Pokémon and although he never wanted to connect with one, this Pokémon saved him and protected him along with many others in this cave. Without Lucario, many of them would have probably died.

So Gary wasn't helping for the greater good. He was helping because he felt that he owed something to this Pokémon and this was the perfect chance to do so.

"Right when you let go, Lucario, reach out for me! ...I'll grab you ok?! Promise!"

The thought of his Raticate suddenly flew through his mind, but he shook it off, knowing he had to think about this. He will save this Pokémon. He had to because if not...

"The cave might not completely break down but, just in case, Lucario, be ready to sprint and Graveler, get ready to dig. Got it?" Liana seriously asked.

The Pokémon nodded and kept their gaze on the direction they were going; Lucario straight ahead and Graveler to the ground.

"Ready...Set..."

Gary and Lucario stared at one another, keeping their eyes connected. He was sure that this would work. This wasn't going to be like Raticate. This time, he can save her.

"Go!"

Lucario quickly let go of the boulder and dashed forward. Graveler tried to hold it but seconds later it crumbled over him and Gary could see Graveler digging downward as rocks fell onto him. Once again, time seemed to slow itself down as Gary's mind watched every detail of this event. Abra now grabbed Lucario and practically yanked the Pokémon through the tunnel, causing her to hit some of the sides. Those didn't really affect her though, as she now paid attention to holding out her arms toward Gary. Gary in turn, pushed his upper body into the cave to try and reach her quicker. But the sounds grew louder and closer.

At that one small moment, Lucario looked up, seeing the boulder at the entrance coming down. And after that split second, she looked back down at Gary and did the worst thing possible: she smiled...ever so softly.

Gary felt her hands in his and he pulled back with all of his might.

The sound of Rock Tunnel completely caving in spread all over the towns surrounding it, but only Gary and the few around the entrance of the cave heard the grotesque sound of something crunching and a splat.

His eyes closed due to the cause of reflex but quickly opened to a scene he never expected. Blood was splattered all over the rocks in front of Gary and on his clothing. He looked down at his hands and noticed that he was gripping onto Lucario's paws, blood seeping out from them.

He didn't seem to notice as someone began screaming behind him and others either backed away or moved closer to him. His mind was only on the thought of holding Lucario's hands. Nothing else mattered. Something in his head told him that he had to keep holding on, even though in the back of his mind he knew it was pointless.

He then felt something trying to pull him away, but he merely held on tighter to her paws, keeping his eyes wide open.

"-io! Riooo! Has anyone seen my Lucario?!"

This seemed to have broken Gary's trance as he quickly turned around to see who was yelling. He saw a little girl with short, brown hair; two braids on each side of her head. She looked lost, or rather, as if she was searching for something.

"Rio! Where are you girl?"

Gary let go of Lucario's paws without realizing it and looked down at his hands, seeing how bloody they were. He then felt something drip down from his face and rubbed it with the back of his hand, noting that there was also blood on his face. He turned away from the girl as Niel went up to her and began talking to her.

The reality of this all didn't hit Gary until he heard the little girl crying and screaming for her Pokémon. She got louder and louder, sounding so sad and hurt.

He didn't notice someone put a hand on his shoulder and try to use a towel to clean his face. All he knew was that he had to get out of here. Away from everyone and everything. Right now.

And before he realized it he was running. Sprinting into Lavender Town, then past it. Gary turned to the right and went straight down that path, not paying attention to his surroundings. He knew he was in some sort of forest as he continued to bump into trees, but that didn't stop him. He simply continued to run...

Soon enough, Gary slowed down and stopped, leaning against a tree. It felt like only minutes had passed but noticing the shadows around him, it was already the evening. His legs ached and he was breathing heavily, practically wheezing as he tried to breathe.

He failed. He let her die.

"I promised...I promised her," Gary quietly said to himself, falling onto his knees.

He had never seen someone or something die in front of him like that. He knew about it and he's seen his share of gore-filled movies but this...nothing could compare to what he witnessed today.

The boy slowly looked down at his hands again and rubbed the blood onto the grass around him. But that didn't seem like enough as the blood already began to stain his skin a bit. The smell of it reminded him of iron. It was weird.

That was when he remembered he had blood on his face. Quickly, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and rubbed it with all his might, then pulled away and was shocked by the amount that was on him.

At some point, anger started to fill inside of him and began to quietly curse, using profanity that he never really enjoyed saying. The words got louder and eventually he was screaming it out, gripping onto his hair and lowering his head as far as he could go.

He had no idea how to describe how much he hated himself right now. Everything that he's done so far just gives him more proof of how stupid he acted. And that didn't even make him feel suicidal! He didn't deserve the peace of death. What he wanted more than anything was to suffer. Some sort of punishment for his personality, his faults, his weaknesses; everything about him that made him _himself_.

But he had no idea how to do that. He didn't want to go about hurting himself physically. Mentally seemed like his best shot.

So outwardly he continued to curse and yell but inwardly, it was all directed to himself...

After who knows how long he stopped and a few minutes after, water sprayed onto his arm. He looked at his arm in confusion, watching the blood drip off of him, then followed the spray to see who was causing it: Wartortle.

Gary watched as he angrily shot a water gun at his arm then at his stomach. The pressure wasn't that forceful though. Was Wartortle angry at him? Gary could think of many reasons as to why he would be.

The water then moved to his other arm, starting from his hand and moving up to his shoulder. His clothes were now completely soaked except for the back. Gary thought about how he could catch a cold this way.

Wartortle seemed to scowl then walked up to Gary and began tugging at his shirt.

"You...want me to take it off? Why? No, get away from me," Gary mumbled, not really having the energy to yell.

Wartortle ignored him and continued to tug, climbing onto one of his knees and pulling the shirt over his head.

"I said GET AWAY!" Gary finally blurted out as he grabbed his Pokémon by it's shell.

But he quickly let to as he heard Wartortle yelp in pain. He forgot about the crack in his shell. Looking down at it, he noticed that it was healing but was still clearly visible.

At this, Gary roughly sighed and carefully picked up his Pokémon, moving him away and pulling off his shirt. Wartortle took it from his Trainer and shot water onto it.*

'Oh, he's cleaning the blood,' Gary thought.

"Use really cold water. It's...it should work better," he said to his Pokémon.

The turtle stopped for a moment then nodded, blasting it with water again.

Gary silently watched as he tried to take the blood out but it was set onto the fabric quite well and soon enough he gave up on it. He turned back to Gary and shot a warmer water gun onto his face, causing the boy to flinch and put his hands up. Yet, when he remembered Wartortle's intentions, he moved his hands and angled his head so the water could clean him off.

When he felt Wartortle shift his change higher, Gary let his head dangle downward and shook it so the water could go through his thick hair.

When Wartortle believed he did as much as he could, he folded up the shirt and twisted it so the water could come out. He then placed it onto his shoulder, walked up to Gary and grabbed his hand, pulling at it to try to make him stand.

He waited a moment then Gary stood up, remembering how tall this Pokémon had gotten when he evolved.

Said Pokémon then led him the opposite direction of where he was running to. He could only assume it was back to Lavender Town. He didn't want to go back to the Rock Tunnel. Ever. He needed to evolve his Pidgey and teach it how to use Fly so this could never happen again.

Gary lightly shivered as he walked, being wet and shirtless and all, but was thankful that there was no wind blowing. His hair was drooping down over his eyes but he could still see through it, although his gaze was kept on the ground. He was glad Wartortle wasn't trying to talk to him. He seemed to understand that Gary wasn't in the mood for it.

* * *

"No, I'm sorry, he doesn't want to talk to anyone," Fuela said as she held the front door open to the house they were staying in.

The person nodded and apologized, then said, "I hope he will feel better soon. We'll try to help as much as we can."

Fuela nodded and thanked the man, shutting the door and sighing. All these people were nice, but it was becoming overbearing.

Since there were no hotels in Lavender Town, the group planned to sleep in the forest Gary ran into. They usually would sleep in the car but they had to leave it behind a town back because there was no way their car could get through a cave like that.

However, the mother of the little girl who owned the Lucario insisted that they stay at her home. It was quite roomy and had enough blankets and beds for everyone (even if some had to sleep on the couch).

Gary, at first, completely disagreed with the idea, but he lost the argument as the girls explained on how it would be better. Not to mention that he was completely soaked and shirtless. So they decided to take the mother's hospitality and stayed for the night.

The first thing they did was get Gary to take a warm shower so they could find him better clothes. He was a cheap kid and wore the same clothes daily, washing them more often than necessary.

But since the blood was really stamped onto his shirt and pants, the decided to ask the mother if she had any clothing for him around.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Anny's father hasn't been around for a very long time, so no men live in this house. There is a small store here that should sell simple clothing for him though."

"I'll go get it," Liana said as she stood up from the couch.

Fuela nodded and let them speak. She decided to check up on Shigeru who was still in the shower. She knocked on the door three times and called out to him.

"Shigeru? You ok in there?"

No response.

She tried calling out for him again, but she could only hear the sound of running water from the shower head. Fuela became a little worried and thought she would have to break the door down, but was surprised that the door was not locked.

She felt nervous at first but knew that helping him was more important. So she walked in and shut the door.

From behind the shower curtain she could see Gary's silhouette just standing there, letting the water hit his head. She sighed and grabbed the towel that was sitting on the toilet and opened it.

"Shigeru. C'mon you've been in there forever, you're gonna get all prune-y."

Gary seemed to have jumped at the sound of someone else being in there then relaxed and turned off the water. He squeezed as much water as he could out of his hair then reached out for the towel, which Fuela gave. After he wrapped the towel around himself, he stayed in there, as if he was frozen in place.

"Are ya coming out?"

"...I'm naked. And you're in here so..."

Fuela lightly smiled, happy that Gary wasn't 100% out of it.

With a nod, she walked out of the bathroom, informing him that they were getting new clothes for him.

For the rest of the night, Gary didn't speak a word unless it was truly necessary. He hadn't the heart to speak. For some reason it just didn't feel right.

* * *

~Today~

"Shigeru?"

Gary turned to Liana who gave him a worried look.

"You know...it wasn't your fault," she softly said. Gary looked away from her and towards the pews again where he could see the mother holding her daughter who had cried more than anyone else. She was now whimpering and hiccuping quietly, her mother trying to ease her sadness.

'You tell me that...but do you really mean it?' That was what Gary wanted to say, but he knew it was best to keep that to himself. He always kept to himself. It tended to make everyone around him feel better.

So instead, Gary turned around and darkly stated, "let's get out of here," then walked out of the room and made his way down from the 3rd floor of Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower.

"Shigeru-kun." Gary stopped halfway down the steps, knowing who was speaking.

He didn't turn to the mother. Instead, she walked around in front of him.

"...Are you alr-"

"Not to be rude, but I'm tired of being asked the same question so many times," he replied before she could finish her sentence.

The woman stayed quiet and Gary only assumed he made her upset.

"Well...Anny wanted you to have this.."

Gary looked down at the woman's outstretched hand. There, in her palm, was a chain necklace with a blue, teardrop-shaped pendant on the end. It seemed to glimmer even in the dark gloom of the tower.

"It...was given to her by her father when he sent her the Pokémon egg that had Rio. She said you needed it more."

Gary gave the pendant a confused look before she continued.

"I told her that it would make more sense for her to keep it; that...you didn't need a small trinket... But then she said, 'I saw his eyes before he went to bed. He's hurting even more than me. He just doesn't know how to show it. I can tell that...he's always hiding'."

Gary's heart felt like it sank at this statement. With a slow nod, he grabbed the pendant and placed it around his neck out of respect. He would take it off later.

He felt his body lightly shaking as he walked down the long flight of stairs, feeling amazed that a little girl understood his entire life just by looking into his eyes. It made him wonder what the girl had gone through in her young life. And he just added to this pain with what he did...

With a deep breath, Gary slipped the blue pendant into his shirt and sat on the stair he was on at the moment, covering his eyes with the bottom of his palms.

His cheerleaders sat next and around him, Fuela placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"No matter what anyone says, her death was my fault..." Gary stated.

"That's not true Shige-"

"Think _logically_, Fuela. If I would've just left without checking if Ash was in there then she'd be alive and with her Trainer. Not to mention Raticate! I shouldn't have yelled at him, I should've-..."

"What happened with Raticate...He chose to stay behind. You tried to help him so you know that wasn't your fault. He could've saved himself if he wanted to and as for Rio, all you were doing was searching for a friend! One way or another, Rio would have gone back inside the cave to search for people. You didn't make a difference or do anything wrong," Fuela retorted.

"I just shouldn't have gone back in at all. Don't you get it? If I didn't go in, she would have left sooner and made it out," Gary darkly replied, feeling frustrated at Fuela trying to defend him. Why couldn't she just accept the truth?

"So you would've risked losing your friend? Stop trying to blame yourself for all of this Shigeru! What you did was what you thought was the best thing to do!"

"But he wasn't there Fuela! And what makes my choice good in any way or form?! I killed someone!" Gary yelled out, standing and turning around to Fuela who stood as well.

"You didn't know if he was there at the time! By the way our journey has been going, it would've made sense that he was in there! And what made this choice the right one is that at the end of the day you chose the right thing and listened to your heart!"

Gary was shocked at first then glared at Fuela, feeling his hatred fill back up again.

"Listening to your heart? _No_. Don't you ever say something like that because that is the _worst _mistake you could make! At the end of the day, I listened to my stupid heart and _killed_ someone! I should _never_ listen to my heart! All it does is hurt others _and_ myself!"

Gary paused, feeling his eyes water at this conversation. He hated talking about 'expressing yourself' or 'showing what you feel'. It was all a sign of weakness and yesterday proved that to him and reminded him that he had to continue to stay locked inside himself at all times. Too many people wanted him to change, to be more expressive. He even faintly remembered his parents telling him to act out more. But obviously that wasn't the best choice. Look where it got them...

Gary quickly took a deep inhale through his nose to relax himself. He wasn't planning on crying over this. He didn't want to, as crying is a sign of weakness.

Fuela stayed quiet but frowned at Gary, disliking the way his views were at the moment. There was just no way to get to this kid, was there?

Liana sadly looked back and forth between the two and stood up, desiring to stop this argument.

"Listen, Shigeru-"

"No! Enough. We're done talking about this. Let's just leave and move on to the next city so I get can the badges I need. All of 'this'," Gary said as he moved his hands to form a large circle. "All of this was just a pit stop that severely slowed me down. I don't know what you guys are gonna do but I'm not planning on letting a bunch of girls slow me down."

At that, Gary sped down the stairs but almost tripped because of who he saw at the end. He couldn't explain the way this made him feel, but all he knew was that his anger seemed to have flown right out of the window.

"Gary. Hey. We're always meeting up some place, huh?" Ash nonchalantly asked. He was preparing himself for a rude remark, as Gary always had one when they met. It made the shorter Trainer wonder whether Gary acted like this towards everyone else. So far it seemed that way.

But today, Gary was silent. He looked at Ash with wide eyes, amazed that he was there to begin with.

Ash gave Gary a confused look then added, "What? You look like you just saw a ghost. I heard that there are some in here, actually. Did you find any?"

"..I...u-uh...Yeah. Caught a few of them too," Gary lied.

"You can catch them?! Then I'm definitely catching some too!" Ash said as he gave Gary a challenging look. He expected Gary to be mean to him. Gary didn't know whether to take that as a good thing or not.

"Oh, did you guys hear what happened?" Misty said.

"The Rock Tunnel caved in! Apparently some members from Team Rocket were messing with this sound system that made the Onix go crazy. They said they somehow harbored a sound that came from Lavender Town itself and tried to use it against them. But the sounds made the Rocket members go crazy and kill themselves..."

Gary's eyes widened at this. So much for wanting to get the people who did this.

He looked away from her for a moment then chuckled, replying, "yeah. That was pretty wild to hear about. Makes it easier to leave the place."

"We also heard there were some Trainers still in there and they had to run out of there. Good thing we weren't part of that huh? I probably would've _died_ trying to find my way through that place quickly," Ash said with a smile.

The younger Trainer laughed at his grim joke, but the cheerleaders all turned to Gary, expecting something bad, but Gary only laughed as well and replied, "same here! Where were you when this all happened?"

"We were already in the Pokémon Center here in Lavender Town."

"Yeah, luckily we made it out before those Onix went wild," Misty added.

"What about you? Where were you guys?" Ash innocently asked.

Gary looked at Ash as he realized that this question was directed towards him. The question made him think of where they were, what had happened, and what he caused. The feelings were so dark that Gary somehow lost the urge to lie.

"Oh uhm...u-uh," the brunette lightly laughed, finding it odd that he couldn't come up with a lie on the spot like he usually does. His heart just felt so heavy, as if it was trying to break out of his chest.

More than anything, he was extremely happy that Ash was alive. He fought his thoughts all night, wondering whether the boy was alive or not, so seeing him here, having a conversation with him made him feel practically ecstatic.

But at the same time, it hurt because it proved that he truly went back into that cave for nothing. How stupid could he be?

As he continued to stutter, Gary looked back at the girls, as if asking for some help. They expected Gary to be happy as his friend was alive and well. But oddly enough, he seemed like he just wanted to leave.

Teres quickly jumped in, saying, "we stayed in a local's house, just admiring the place yesterday! As for today, we were here! Shigeru just caught a Cubone, you know?"

Niel grabbed his wrist and nudged him to continue down the stairs, curling some pink locks around her finger. "Oh, but we couldn't find the grown-up Marowak that is said to have been here."

"You know, I doubt there are any left," Fuela quickly added.

"Alright girls, let's take Shigeru out of here, he's got A LOT to accomplish!" Liana loudly said as they practically encircled the boy.

"Wait, Gary!"

"No time Satoshi! We have to-"

"Gary! Hey- will you just- Look at me!"

Ash grabbed the brunette's wrist, yanking him back and away from the girls so he could look at his face. Gary stared back at Ash, truly not knowing what to say.

...No. He did.

...He wanted to tell him that he was so worried about him. That he thought he could've been in that cave and he risked his own life just to find him. He wanted to hold him and cry and smile and laugh as he felt so amazingly happy that his friend wasn't harmed in any way or form. More than anything though, he wanted to tell him how happy he was to see him. That every single damn time he saw him, something in his chest grew and flurried, making his head feel confused and blurred. That he wanted to be his best friend again and hang out with him, take an adventure with him, reach every part of this earth with him. And he had no idea why.

But nothing came out. He only stood there, enjoying the fact that this being was right in front of him. He felt Ash's hand holding onto his wrist and looked down, lightly smiling at it. Slowly, he turned his hand and held Ash's wrist as well. Ash noticed this but also stayed quiet for a moment, analyzing Gary's face.

"Your cuts...They've gotten better...And you're not limping anymore."

Gary had forgotten about the S. S. Anne. It hadn't been that long ago, but certain events seemed to have clouded Gary's memory, as the past really didn't seem as important compared to the now.

"...Yeah."

"...Look, even though we argue a lot, I'm just happy to see that you've gotten-" but Ash was cut off by Gary suddenly pulling him in and embracing him.

Everyone stood there in shock; even Gary felt amazed by his own actions. But he didn't care. He just wanted to hold this idiot. Even if it was for a little while.

Gary gripped onto the back of his jacket, feeling like if he let go he would lose something very important.

"...Gary? Uhm..." Ash lightly squirmed in Gary's hold, but froze when he felt Gary's pulse beat at such a high pace. He also noticed that he was lightly shaking from holding on so tightly.

"Gary...What happened? What is it?" Ash whispered so only Gary could hear.

But Gary stayed silent. He couldn't tell him about all this. Ash would probably pity him and they would get close. He had to stop and continue telling him to keep going; even though he himself wanted to stop.

After another long moment, Gary let go of Ash, letting his hands slide down his arms. He took a few steps back and chuckled, trying to play off some lie he suddenly formed.

"Just giving you something you probably will never get except from your mother. Look, I don't want to be slowed down anymore. Smell ya later!"

As Gary turned, he knew that Ash would come after him. Ash had this habit where he believed that there was this fantastic greatness in everyone and he always wanted to help them find it. But he had to realize that there was none of that inside of Gary.

So before Ash could call out for him, Gary held out his hand and pressed it onto Ash's chest. He was about to say something that he would probably regret afterwards, but knew it was for the best.

"Satoshi...You won't see me for a while. I'm going ahead and becoming the Pokémon Champion. If I ever see you before that, I will battle with you. Without hesitation."

At that, Ash frowned and pushed his hand away, replying, "why is it that when something happens, you put up an even bigger wall? Why do you have to act like this? Why can't you just be a nice person and say 'good luck' or 'may the best person win'?! Stop pushing your emotions onto other people!"

"I act this way because I see no _way_ for you to win Satoshi-kun! If you can't beat me, a beginner, what makes you think you can beat any other Gym Leader or the Elite Four? What makes you think you can see and catch _every_ Pokémon in the world when you have one Trainer in your way?"

At this, Ash stayed quiet and looked down, feeling upset. The boy didn't reply so Gary found this the right moment to leave. But as he reached the stairs to go down to the first floor, he heard Ash yell out, "I will beat you!"

"You may be doing better now when it comes to what we have to do for the professor. But when it comes to our LIVES in general, I'm doing better than you ever could! So go ahead! Make it to the Elite Four before me! Become the Champion! Because right when you do, I will be RIGHT there to take you down!"

Gary watched as Ash glared at him and blushed out of anger. It was a cute look that suited his personality. The brunette scoffed and left without another word, glad that he said what he said. Things were finally getting back to normal.

* * *

That night, the group stayed on Route 8, sleeping outside on blankets so they could watch the night sky.

The area consisted of a forest on one side then a huge, empty meadow in between it all. There was a dirt path that you could follow to get to the next city, but it was quite far and it was late. So they went to the middle of the meadow and laid there until dawn came.

It was already past midnight but Gary could not sleep. He just watched the sky and a few Pokémon fly by. Too many events have been occurring this past month or so. And Gary wanted it to end. He just wanted to finish this quest and leave the past behind.

Why was that so hard though?

The Trainer sat up, pulling his legs up to lean his arms against them. He looked around at the girls that slept behind him, some with their Pokémon out and others wrapped around blankets. He then looked forward and sighed, debating whether he should leave right now or not.

Technically, these girls were slowing him down more than anything. If he didn't go on that cruise, he could've past the Rock Tunnel with ease.

It would be easier too. They don't have a car at the moment so they would be walking now. Would they really want that anyway? If he left now, he could simply provide for himself and his Pokémon and not care about anyone else.

Making up his mind, Gary got up and began quietly packing his things.

While doing so, he woke up Eevee, who was lying close to him. The Pokémon got up, watching his Trainer in confusion.

Once Gary grabbed everything he whispered to Eevee, "c'mon let's go."

The Pokémon's eyes widened and he turned around, getting ready to wake the others up.

"No, no. We have to go. Without them."

The Pokémon turned to him, seeming confused and upset.

"They keep slowing me down, Eevee. If we leave now, we can just go our separate ways without any arguing. And we can finally get a move on."

Eevee looked back at the girls who had been so kind to him for this past month or so. Although he had to obey his Trainer, he didn't want to just leave these people behind. And he knew that his Trainer didn't want to either...right?

So Eevee looked back at Gary and shook his head. Gary sighed and went to pick up Eevee but he jumped back and violently shook his head, looking up at Gary with pleading eyes.

The Trainer went down on one knee, hoping to convince his Pokémon that this was for the best.

"Eevee, don't make me force you..."

But Eevee kept his place, not breaking his stare with the boy. Gary looked away, running one hand through his hair, then looked back at his first Pokémon.

"Why? Give me a good reason."

Gary thought he had won this conversation because their was no way a Pokémon could express such an answer. But Eevee ran over to Gary and jumped onto his bent knee then placed his paws onto his chest. He broke his gaze from Gary's eyes and looked down to his chest, as if searching for something. Then he picked up his right paw and placed it right on the location of Gary's heart. Gary watched as Eevee looked back up to him and patted the area a few times. He understood what Eevee was trying to say but he shook his head.

"They're just a fanclub, Eevee. I can leave them behind whenever I want and not feel any sorrow about it. And even if I have considered them as friends, it's not hard to leave those behind either. Especially if you benefit from it."

Eevee looked shocked for a moment then turned around, looking toward the direction of The Rock Tunnel. His ears slightly went down and he looked back at Gary who was now looking that way as well.

It hurt to look at it. That hole in his chest felt as if it was getting larger every time he gazed upon it.

"That's the reason I want to leave Eevee. Don't you get it? If we didn't get on that ship earlier, we could've made it here faster and we would've avoided all these problems. Right?"

Eevee wanted to argue but it knew that Gary was technically right.

The Trainer then picked up his Pokémon and stood up, placing him onto his shoulder. Eevee silently climbed onto it and laid down, fitting nicely onto the small shoulder.

Gary then took a deep breath and began walking away, hoping his footsteps through the grass were not loud enough to wake the girls.

As he continued, he heard Eevee begin to sniff and shiver. He knew that he was crying and was trying to ignore the sound. But being as Eevee was one of the two who was with him throughout all of this, he couldn't help having a strong emotional attachment to the small fox.

He stopped walking and picked up Eevee with both of his hands, one under him and the other on his back. Eevee's eyes were shut tightly and it bit its bottom lip as it cried.

"Stop it, Eevee. C'mon, I can't do this if you're like that..."

He watched his Pokémon begin to break down and couldn't help but think that, internally, this is how he feels. Tears streamed down the small fox's face and that made Gary groan in anger, pulling Eevee into an embrace.

"You gotta be strong, little guy. As rude and mean as I am, I always...lie when I say I don't need you. But you know that. You know I need you guys to do this huge quest."

Gary continued to hold his Pokémon, rubbing its small back and moving side to side. Since when did he get so motherly over his Pokémon like this? He decided not to tell anyone about it.

Gary looked over to the path he was planning on walking through. It led to Celadon City if he was right. Although the name didn't really matter to him. As long as there was a Gym Leader to beat, then that was the next destination. Could he really go down this path with Eevee like this? His crying didn't sound as if it was going to stop anytime soon.

So with another defeated sigh, Gary sat on the grass and put his luggage down. He wasn't too far off from the girls, but it was enough to talk in a normal tone.

He placed Eevee down onto the grass in front of him, his legs wrapping around the Pokémon. Eevee sniffed and tried to stop crying as he looked up at his Trainer.

Gary petted him and looked down to the ground in front of him, feeling confused on what to do.

In full honesty, he didn't know whether he was doing the right thing or not by leaving. Every choice had its positive and negative reactions...

Amazingly, Gary felt his eyes watering. He didn't realize that this small Pokémon had such an effect on him. Once again, he had to wonder when they became this close. Maybe it was during the many battles they fought together. Whenever Gary was in any sort of bind, he would either call out Wartortle or Eevee to save the day. It was a natural reaction at some point to call them when necessary. Maybe having so much trust in them during a physical problem brought trust in emotional problems as well.

So, fully trusting Eevee, Gary let the tears he held inside fall out. He made no sound or face; just cried silently, letting them drip down his cheeks and onto the grass.

"I hate myself, you know..."

Eevee looked up at Gary, watching him finally speak about how he felt inside.

"I never told anyone. Never found in necessary really... But hey, you can't talk so I can just treat you like a journal or something," he sarcastically said as he sniffed afterwards.

"I really...really hate myself. I have no idea when it started but the hatred has been growing ever since I started this stupid journey. It got worse when I met the girls and obviously when we came here... I guess I do because,"

Gary looked up to the sky now; sighing then lightly laughing.

"Everything I do. It just- I ruin it. Sure I'm a good Trainer, I can plan the battle well and win without a problem; I can fight all my battles. But in the end, what the hell does that accomplish? I win. So what?"

Gary looked down at Eevee, feeling quite stupid as he opened himself up. But oddly enough, the Pokémon had stopped crying and was only sniffing, looking up and intently listening to Gary. He began to pet him again as he continued.

"This is why I want to leave. I just want to get this over with. Let go of all the stupid crap I've ever done and just _keep going_. And honestly, as much as it pains me, I need you guys for this," he said with a smile at the end.

Eevee smiled back, understanding that the insult was a joke.

He then climbed up onto Gary's leg and looked over to the girl's again. He wasn't crying anymore but he seemed to understand a little more.

With a tiny gulp, Eevee jumped off of Gary and ran over to his bag, opening it up and rummaging inside.

Gary wiped the tears off of his face and turned towards Eevee, waiting to see what he would take out. When he came back to Gary, he saw him dragging a piece of paper and pencil in his mouth. Gary chuckled at the idea, but took the items, looking at them for a moment then down at Eevee.

"I guess it would be better to tell them then just leave, huh? Wouldn't want anyone worrying."

Eevee nodded and climbed back onto Gary's shoulder, watching as he wrote a thoughtful note.

Once he finished, he gave the folded paper to Eevee who bit onto an end and ran back to the girls, quietly stuffing the note in one of their bags. Not completely inside so it could be hidden, but enough so they could notice.

Eevee then ran back and Gary picked him up, putting him on his shoulder again. He looked over to the girl's who, although they were just a fanclub, were such kind people that he would never forget. But he knew he had to move on.

"...Thanks guys. For all the help and fun moments. Even though there were only a few," he said out loud.

Eevee lightly yelled out it's name, waving at the girls and beginning to cry again.

"...Let's go," Gary said as a cool breeze passed by them.

Eevee sadly smiled, but came to accept this choice. Although it hurt to leave his friends behind, he knew he preferred Gary over anyone else (as annoying as his Trainer can be sometimes).

Gary soon made it to the dirt path and as he walked to the new city, all his sorrows, his pain, and the feelings kept from the past events all seemed to fall away with the tears dripping off of his face. He felt that this new beginning was going to be better. Much better.

* * *

A.N. ASJHGFLKGDKL wow this is long lol I haven't written a long chapter in a long time. I think this one has many feels, especially the end.

Amazingly, I felt more emotional writing him leaving rather than the deaths and his depression about it. Something about him leaving them just made me so sad. Like, leaving all your problems behind to start anew. Lol I did this when I first went to college. I honestly prefer leaving all others behind once you start a new path on your own. Am I the only one who thinks this way? Sure a few small connections are cool, but a BRAND NEW start. It's an easing feeling.

ANYWAY XD the * I put wasn't really for anything specific except for OHMYGAWD SHIRTLESS SHIGERU YES XD Lol Yes. I fangirl over my own scenes this way XD

Tell me what you think. Were the sad scenes bland? (If so just put on sad soundtracks and music, trust me, you will feel lol I was listening to IO (This Time Around) by Helen Stellar.)

Were there any scenes that you thought could have been better? And most important question! Do you think Gary's choice was for the best? There is no right or wrong but I want to know what you guys think.

R&R for me :) Let me know that this is still a good story and if I have any stupid grammar problems ^_^


	8. Chapter 8

A.N. Ok so I wanna do this chapter a little different than my usual ones. This is going to mainly be Gary's Pokémon's POV so I will make it that you can understand them as readers, but of course they aren't actually talking (which I think is seriously stupid in the Pokémon universe lol but whatever)

And also, for last chapter. It seems like no one noticed the little Lavender Town insider I through in there. You guys have heard about the myth on the music of Lavender Town killing kids right? No? Lol look it up XD It's a fun, silly thing to read about which I made a real thing in my story (that killed the Rockets. Not our Team Rocket. I love Jessie and James...and I ship them so hard. You know they had a kid in the manga? ~squee~).

Ok anyway, here we go :)

* * *

Wartortle silently rested in his pokeball, waiting for the moment for Gary to call out for him.

What many didn't know about these devices is that, in a sense, being in a pokeball was like death. The pokémon's body is no longer existing. They would turn into, what Wartortle would describe as, a light with no source. The Pokémon would feel empty, as if they are not there, but there at the same time.

It's hard to explain, but Wartortle didn't consider this a bad feeling. The feeling of death is one of losing all pain and stresses. You would be put into a calm state; almost like sleeping. Many Pokémon enjoyed this while some others preferred to never use pokeballs because in its own way, it was a frightful experience.

So Wartortle rested in his pokeball, feeling blissful and unaware of the outside world. He then felt his small world enlarging, giving him the heads up that Gary was going to take him out.

Wartortle came out of his pokeball and looked around to see if there was a battle he had to fight. But instead of seeing an arena or another Trainer, Wartortle saw a large beach on a sunny day.

The turtle looked back at his Trainer, noting the scowl he had on his face as he let the other five Pokémon out of their small worlds as well. Each one did the same thing as Wartortle, as they were so accustomed to Gary calling them out for battle.

It had been around a month since Gary left his group and restarted his journey alone. Since then, they would work and move nonstop, making it so that everyday they were resting in another, different location.

The team now consisted of Wartortle, Eevee, Pidgeotto, Growlithe, Kadabra, and Exeggute; Not too different from those months back.

The Graveler that had stayed for a while was fine and all, but Gary wanted different types to play around with. So he decided to send Graveler back to Pallet Town to stay with his sister, May. Graveler didn't seem to mind too much and would wait for them to call and visit.

Luckily, Gary would call May once or twice a month, just so she could check up on him and he could see if she needed anything. He was earning a lot of money and didn't mind helping his sister whenever necessary. Sure she had Gary's grandfather there, but they knew that as they were growing up, they mainly had each other to rely on.

The last Pokémon that was on their team usually was never one to stay long, as it was always just one to have at the time to benefit certain situations.

Oddly enough, Gary stopped releasing Pokémon so quickly too. He would keep them longer, but that didn't mean that the rude attitude ever stopped. So, although it wasn't as much, Pokémon would still leave him.

Because of all this, Gary decided to keep the same group as they were all already quite strong. The newest ones he decided to keep around; Kadabra and Exeggute; were a little weird at first, but were kind, which the others accepted quite well.

The team would occasionally take breaks, but Gary wasn't one to have one himself. When his Pokémon would relax, he would be investigating the town; searching for information on the Gym Leader and any areas that had good items and Trainers.

Therefore, Wartortle could not come up with a conclusion as to why they were on a beach that was quite far away from the town they were supposed to be in.

Once everyone was out and looking at Gary, the brunette began to speak.

"Alright, listen up. I know you guys usually relax in like a park or something but today I decided to take you here. Don't think anything of it! Just go relax for a while and don't get into trouble."

Gary angrily looked away, faintly blushing out of embarrassment.

Wartortle couldn't help but to brightly smile. Gary was being _nice_!

At this, Wartortle began happily hopping and hugged Gary, causing the others to become giddy as well and move close to him.

"Hey! I said don't think anything of it! It's just that there aren't any parks around here and I have to leave you guys _somewhere_. Stop, just- _ugh_," Gary yelled out, backing away from the group.

"Alright I'll be over at that building. If not I'll be somewhere around there," Gary said as he pointed to a building that had "Porta Vista" written big and brightly at the top.

Wartortle nodded and watched as his Trainer quickly walked away, obviously feeling embarrassed about the way he was acting.

"Yes! Finally we hit the beach!" Wartortle said as he ran up to Eevee.

Although all of the group members were close friends, he and Eevee were the closest of them all.

Growlithe sighed, walking over to start a circle with them.

"I'm not very fond of beaches, as AMAZING as that sounds," Growlithe sarcastically said in his nonchalant voice.

"You don't have to jump into the water, dude, just run around with us! C'mon let's play tag!" Eevee yelled out as he tapped onto Growlithe's leg and ran off.

Growlithe took a second to respond but finally said, "alright," and ran off to catch the small fox Pokémon. Kadabra and Exeggute walked over to Wartortle as they asked what he was planning on doing.

"Well I'm most likely gonna jump into the water in a bit. You guys wanna come?"

"I think we'll pass. Kinda don't want to lose any pieces, you know?" Exeggute said with a small smile.

He hopped off and began playing in the sand, shifting himself so he could go underneath it. Wartortle was still confused by this Pokémon. Was it considered more than one?

"I'm in! Let's go!" Kadabra said as he ran down the beach and jumped into the water.

Wartortle was right behind him and he pounced into the water, quickly swimming underneath it and reaching below Kadabra, jumping out to splash water onto him.

For a good while, the six of them played about on the beach, meeting new Pokémon and having some small battles between one other. They hadn't had so much fun in a long time! When they had to train with Gary, he always wanted everything on point and done with high proficiency. Here, they could goof about with their games; tackling one another in the most idiotic ways and creating a race where you could only move by dragging on your stomach.

It wasn't anything too exciting, really. But it was enough for this hardworking team.

* * *

Once Wartortle felt most of his energy depleting, he walked over to Eevee and Growlithe who were relaxing under an umbrella that someone seemed to have left behind.

The blue turtle dropped onto the sand in front of them with a sigh, not knowing what to do next.

"Wow we really went crazy for a while there," Eevee said with a small giggle, feeling tired himself, yet still blissful.

"Yeah...Gary sure is nice for letting us hang out here," Wartortle said as he stretched then sat up onto his knees.

"Yes, but it's only been a few hours or so," Growlithe added.

"We still have a lot of time here. What should we do?"

Wartortle looked around, wondering what they could do while waiting for their owner to come back.

"Hey! You! The Wartortle!" Wartortle turned around as he was (technically) called. As far as he knew, he was the only Wartortle on this beach.

When he turned around, he saw a Bellsprout and a Ivysaur looking at him. So they were calling him.

"Do you and your friends wanna explore with us? We're gonna go into that forest over there!" Ivysaur said as she pointed to a small forest at the far end of the beach. It looked like it was an entrance to a larger one but it seemed nice and thin; definitely good to play in.

Wartortle got up and said, "Ok! How about you guys? Let's be like explorers and explore the jungle!"

Eevee and Growlithe stayed put, Eevee saying, "nah I wanna relax some more. Don't get lost ok? Those jungles can be deep and scary!"

Wartortle smiled and replied, "as if! I'm the best Pokémon ever!" before running off with the other two.

The three Pokémon ran into the woods, roleplaying as a Pokémon Rescue Team; a myth made by Pokémon about Pokémon who live in a world without humans and help others in need.

They pretended that they had to rescue a lost Pokémon in this deep jungle before the evil Charizard came to get them.

The game lasted for a while and soon enough, the three were just sitting around and talking.

"So you get your power from the sun?" Ivysaur nodded as it laid at an area where the forest trees were not blocking the sun, nourishing her leaves and bathing in the light.

"What about you, Wartortle? Do you get your power from somewhere?"

Wartortle shrugged, lying back on a rock with his arms behind his head.

"I dunno. I just have my own strength really. I think that has it's pros and cons... Like you getting your power from somewhere. That's got goods and bads too."

Bellsprout nodded and sighed, lying on the ground. The three stayed silent for a moment, simply relaxing and watching the time fly by.

"So do you two have Trainers?" Wartortle asked, trying to bring up another conversation.

"Yup. The same one!" Bellsprout said with a small smile.

"Oh cool. My team is still somewhere on the beach. Is your Trainer a boy or a girl?"

"Boy. You?"

"He's a boy. He's...15 years old? Yeah 15."

"Ours is 11. Does your Trainer have a specific type he likes?"

"Uhm...No. He just wants to catch every Pokémon in the world. It's kinda his mission he got from a professor."

"...How many do they think there are in the world?"

Wartortle giggled and said, "...150."

Ivysaur and Bellsprout suddenly burst into laughter, rolling about in the grass.

"Oooh they are in for a surprise!" Bellsprout said between chuckles.

"Uhm, but ok, back to the subject," Ivysaur said wiping some tears from her eyes.

"Dillan, our Trainer, really likes bugs and grass types. He's really nice but I think a little too nice. The others from our team like to loaf around and that really annoys me sometimes. Hopefully, he gets a little more strict, you know? Cuz he's gotta be, like, our leader and no one is gonna follow him if he's just gonna be a super nice kid."

Bellsprout nodded, adding, "yeah and we battle a lot but he doesn't know how to strategize. I wish we could talk to him. Why can't we talk to them? That logic is just-..."

Bellsprout sighed, giving up on his sentence.

"Dude, just give up on it, ok? It's a question that only Arceus can answer. Let's just change subjects again. Ok uhhh, where's your Trainer from? Actually, another thing, where are we now?"

Ivysaur giggled at Wartortle's silly question and got up to sit up straight. "Our kid is from Cerulean City. And we are in Porta Vista; around Vermilion City. Now what about your Trainer?" Ivysaur said.

"Mine? He's from Pallet Town. He's the opposite of your Trainer; that's for sure. He's a super tough guy and acts really mean. Super strict with all of our training, but I like him."

Ivysaur eyes widened, looking over to Wartortle.

"He's mean? How can you like a mean person?"

"Well maybe he's not that mean. Does he just play around or something?" Bellsprout asked as he looked over to Wartortle.

Wartortle laughed a bit and looked down, thinking about everything Gary says. Playing around didn't even come close to how Gary treated them. But he had to agree that it has become nicer since day one.

"No, he's usually...pretty honest with his insults. But it's only when we're not doing good enough," he said to Bellsprout.

"Well that really isn't fair. Don't you guys try your hardest? He's at least happy that you guys do that, right?"

"Ha! As if. But it's not that bad. I mean, we know he still cares."

Ivysaur gave Wartortle a confused look, replying, "doesn't sound like that to me. What proof do you have that he actually cares about you guys?"

"Well he doesn't throw us out. That's something. The ones he doesn't like, he used to just leave them behind."

Ivysaur and Bellsprout got up, looking shocked at what he just said.

"What?! You shouldn't just _throw_ Pokémon away! What kind of Trainer is that?" Ivysaur angrily said.

"You shouldn't be with a person like that, Wartortle. What if he throws you away?"

"Hey, I've been with him since day one and it's almost been half a year now. I doubt he'd do that to me."

"But what if you start messing up? What if you get really hurt and it can't be fixed?"

Wartortle thought that over for a moment, then replied, "I dunno. I think everything will be fine. He helps us when we're hurt and he feeds us. Not many yummy treats, but you know, what we need. He really cares about this journey thing of his, you know?"

"That shouldn't cloud the idea that he has to be good to you guys. If you ask me, you should just leave him. Has he ever _told_ you that he needed you?" Ivysaur said, obviously much angrier than Bellsprout.

Wartortle thought about the question, then realized that Gary never did tell them that he needed their help. He never even mentioned the fact that without them, he wouldn't be able to do this mission of his. But he knew, right?

"Well no, but-"

"Exactly! What if he's just using you for this journey? After his journey, then what?"

"I don't think he would do that to me. Even though I don't have proof that he wouldn't, I just- I dunno. It's what I think. I mean, there's one Pokémon that he had for a while and instead of tossing him or putting him into that PC thing, he sent him back home. We talk to him sometimes."

"Well I guess that is something. Still, we're just trying to look out for you, Wartortle," Bellsprout said in a calmer tone.

"If you get way too attached and he decides to do something harsh, do you think you can handle it?"

Wartortle had no comeback, but seemed to understand what they were saying. Gary truly was a bossy kid and didn't take any slack from anyone. He also was a compulsive liar. And it was true that Wartortle was never thanked for his hard work; even though he tried so hard to win everything for his Trainer. Gary should be thankful! Without his team, he wouldn't even be able to beat all these Gym Leaders!

"All we're saying is watch out ok? With a person who could just drop a friend without hesitation, you never know when they could turn their back on you," Bellsprout said, trying to calm the conversation down. He knew how Ivysaur could get.

* * *

A couple more hours of playing on the beach passed by and the trio soon came back to the beach, searching for their Trainers.

The two grass type Pokémon said their goodbyes to Wartortle, who waved and walked away, thinking about their conversation.

If he were to just leave Gary, he could only assume that Gary would go downhill! The team truly didn't get enough credit for their hard work and Wartortle wanted at least SOME praise for it.

"Hey ya dumb, blue, turtle!"

Wartortle looked up the beach to see Gary calling out to him, the rest of the team already by his side.

Wartortle ran up to Gary who held a scowl on his face.

"Where the heck were you? It's almost time to go."

Wartortle became a little angry at the way Gary spoke to him. He demanded a little more respect!

But just as he was about to respond, Gary tossed a small paper bag to Wartortle, which he quickly grabbed. He couldn't help but to notice that it smelled great.

"I couldn't get much for everyone but I bought some food. There's a Rare Candy in there too but eat it after the meal! And don't get used to getting candy! They were on discount today so...yeah," Gary said, turning away to look at the others.

That was when Wartortle realized that the rest were eating under and around that umbrella from before, with their own individual bags as well. Everyone had their favorite type of food too along with one Rare Candy and Wartortle knew for a fact that Rare Candies were NEVER on sale. They were pricey bastards.

When Wartortle opened his bag, he was delighted to find lemon-flavored pastries; his favorite. The blue turtle looked up at Gary who returned the gaze.

Although he knew that Gary would not understand, he smiled and said, "thank you", walking near his feet and sitting down to eat some more.

Gary noticed the way Wartortle sat close to him and sighed, picking him up and moving under the umbrella. After telling Growlithe to move over, Gary sat down on the sand and placed Wartortle between his legs; pulling out his own bag of food and quietly eating it.

This was when Wartortle came to the conclusion that Gary didn't need to tell them that he needed them. His Trainer was a rude person who didn't really enjoy helping others, let alone expressing himself. So these small gestures of taking them to the beach, bringing them food, and even just being allowed to sit near him, meant something to Wartortle. They weren't great things, but it was enough. However, he still wouldn't mind at least a little praise.

"Hey...you're Shigeru Gary Oak, right?"

Wartortle looked up at a boy who was younger than his own Trainer, pointing directly to his Trainer. He forgot that Gary had become quite famous even though he was so young.

"Who's asking?" Gary said, seeming to not want to talk to others at the moment.

"I heard you're a great Trainer! So I challenge you to a battle!"

"Yeah, sorry kid but my Pokémon are eating right now, as you can see. I highly doubt any of them would want to get a cramp at the moment."

"Well then I'll wait!" The kid said, feeling excited yet trying to be tough in front of Gary.

Gary sighed, accustomed to these types of people. He knew there was no way to say no to him and said, "fine. But just a one-on-one battle because we gotta go. Any volunteers?"

Gary looked around his team and they looked back at him, simply chewing on their food.

After a few moments of thinking, Wartortle decided to raise his hand, saying, "I'll do it!"

"Ok then."

"Ha! Perfect! My Pokémon will have a great advantage against you! I'm choosing Ivysaur!"

Wartortle turned back to the Trainer, feeling surprised by that name. Was he going to battle his new friend?

Gary shrugged, not finding too much of a threat from the child and looked away, continuing to eat.

After thirty minutes of the younger Trainer trying to ask Gary a million questions, Wartortle was finally ready to battle. He actually was ready about ten minutes ago but he couldn't help but to enjoy Gary's frustration to the hyperactive kid.

The two decided to pick an area that didn't benefit either of their types; a concrete platform that was made for practice battles. It didn't have any lines or structures that made it look like a place to battle, but the two could only assume so. The younger Trainer called out his Ivysaur, revealing that it was, in fact, Wartortle's new friend. Which, in turn, told him that the Trainer's name was Dillan.

"Oh! Hey! I guess we get to battle after all!" Ivysaur sweetly said.

Wartortle nodded and walked to in front of Gary, taking his usual position for battle.

"So, I can finally see how your Trainer manhandles you?" Ivysaur said with a smirk, seeming to taunt her opponent.

Wartortle, who falls for taunts quite quickly, replied, "he doesn't manhandle us! He's a good Trainer!"

"Yeah, we'll see about that!"

As the battle began, Dillan went straight for his advantage and told Ivysaur to use Vine Whip. Ivysaur quickly pulled out her vines and went to attack but Wartortle dodged it through Gary's timing. Dillan continuously used Vine Whip, but Wartortle dodged them with ease as this move was used on him often.

"Jeez, Ivysaur! Don't you know any other move? I'm getting kind of bored here!" Wartortle said as he playfully dodged the moves.

"Hey, you know it's not my fault! Of course I have other moves!"

Wartortle laughed and turned his dodges into little dances, getting Ivysaur and her Trainer quite angry. But this backfired on Wartortle as Ivysaur's vines finally grabbed onto his arms; holding on tight.

"Stop goofing off so much, Wartortle!" Gary scolded, scowling at his Pokémon.

Wartortle chuckled, looking back at his Trainer but winced as Dillan told Ivysaur to use Mega Drain. Through the vines, Ivysaur drained Wartortle's energy, causing him to fall down onto his knees.

However, Gary didn't panic and only looked at Wartortle, saying, "c'mon Wartortle! Take that energy back!"

Both opponents looked up in surprise on what Gary requested, but Wartortle only nodded and stood up, looking right at Ivysaur.

"Your Trainer even asks you to do things you _can't_ do? Not that smart if you ask me," Ivysaur said with a smile.

But Wartortle smirked back at her, replying, "quite the contrary, actually. Gary is by far, the smartest Trainer I know. See-" Wartortle stood up straight and twisted his arms, gripping onto the vines that continued to take his energy. He tugged at them, making Ivysaur have to pull back to not lose her footing.

"My Trainer doesn't just work us to the bone. He studies us; studies Pokémon."

"Oh so you guys are his test subjects then?"

"No, well...actually yes. In a way we are. He notices things that most people don't notice about Pokémon. Like for instance, how is it that us water types can use the move Surf? We know it's something you can use on water, but what about in battle?"

Ivysaur slightly cocked her head, pulling back as Wartortle tried to tug her forward. Wartortle smiled and shut his eyes, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling.

Suddenly, Ivysaur felt as if all the energy she had just taken was being taken back. A Wartortle can't learn a move like this, right?

"What's going on?!" Dillan called out, watching as Wartortle seemed to be using the same move.

Gary smirked and said, "putting it simply, I taught my Wartortle how to use Absorb. Well, in a sense. It can only work on water and grass types, since they are the Pokémon with the most dominant amount of water inside of their bodies. And since you just took water from my Wartortle, he can easily take it right back."

At that, Wartortle pulled Ivysaur forward and pulled her up, slamming her back into the ground.

"Don't let go of the vine, Wartortle! Use Toxic and Bite!"

"C-combining moves?!" Ivysaur said as she tried to pull away.

"Just a few tricks," Wartortle said as he forced the poison to his teeth and bit into the vine. Once the poison flowed into the vine, Wartortle let go and awaited for his Trainer's next move. Gary watched for a few moments, obviously estimating how long it takes for the poison to reach Ivysaur. Once she was fully taking in its effect, Gary said, "finish this with Surf. The right way."

Wartortle nodded and took a deep breath. This move usually took long to start as he had to grab small drips of water from under the earth and pull them up to use. So Gary trained with Wartortle to focus on exact locations and to blast them upward when needed. Therefore this time, Wartortle slammed his hands onto the concrete and instantly maneuvered the water that was under the concrete along with some from himself and the ocean. He struggled for a moment then pulled his arms up and moved them to the right. He could feel all the water following his movements, pulling it up from under the concrete and pulling it onto the top. Soon enough the whole area had around a one inch layer of water; excluding around Gary (which took an extreme amount of time to accomplish).

"This...this is crazy," Ivysaur said as she forced herself up. Dillan tried to tell her to attack before anything could happen but Ivysaur could barely move as the poison slowed her movement down.

"It's not crazy. I-it's just over-thinking," Wartortle said as he began to struggle. Holding all of this water was like carrying a weight and it was quite heavy.

"Don't worry though. My Trainer always tells me to go easy on my opponent at this point. Cuz water can be really, really heavy."

With that, Wartortle raised his arms, causing a wave to form behind him. He then thrusted his whole body forward, forcing all the water towards Ivysaur. Dillan took a few steps back and covered himself, hoping the water wouldn't take him down as well. But Wartortle put in extra effort to make sure it didn't reach him. However, the water did push him back and Wartortle knew Gary would get at him about that.

With a sigh, Wartortle let go of the water, letting it flow off of the concrete and onto the sand of the beach and other directions. He honestly didn't care. Using all these moves consecutively tired him out.

Once the water left, Gary walked up to Wartortle and went down on one knee, whispering, "sorry, but I was kind of doing an experiment to see if you can handle all those moves at the same time. Was that too much?"

Wartortle looked over to Gary, giving him a look that said, "what do you think?", but he sighed, knowing that this wasn't as bad as some other training he had gone through. So he put his little arm up and rotated his hand, giving Gary the idea that it wasn't too bad.

But Wartortle knew that Gary could see that this still was effecting him. He didn't think this was from the moves though. Something in his body was just feeling weird and as he began to burn up inside, he realized what was happening to himself: he was evolving.

The Pokémon tried to look down at his hands but he was glowing so bright that it was impossible to see. The heat that started inside of his body finally made its way out, causing his whole body to burn then go numb. But the feeling wasn't exactly one of discomfort. It simply felt like...the best way Wartortle could describe it was regeneration. Everything on his body felt like it was changing, but he still felt something inside him that would never change. Wartortle found it hard to describe.

Suddenly, the light faded and Wartortle realized that his view of the world was much higher than before. Instead of looking up at Gary, he was now looking down at him. Gary smirked back at him, saying, "about time, huh? I didn't think you would change through a small battle like this though. But you did use a lot of effort..."

Gary then looked down in thought, analyzing the whole situation.

The rest of the team ran up to their team member; Eevee hopping in excitement.

"Dude, look at yourself! You're a Blastoise!"

Wartortle, or rather Blastoise, looked down at his hands again and noticed that they were quite large. He did evolve!

Blastoise quickly turned his head, taking a few steps to the side to try and see the cannons on his back.

"Awesome I've got cannons on my back!" Blastoise yelled out, flinching as he realized his voice lowered quite a few pitches, but he merely smiled afterwards.

After the excitement, Blastoise noticed Dillan, who had already returned Ivysaur in its pokeball and was now investigating him. He then sighed and looked down, amazingly losing all of that energy he had earlier.

"I'll never be as great as you...I mean, imagine the other Gym Leaders out there!"

Gary scoffed, shaking his head and walking to the younger Trainer.

"Listen, I am NOTHING like Gym Leaders or other Trainers or anything. Actually, if I were to be compared to a career it would probably be a professor and I highly doubt they would be in a competition against you. Trust me; I am a lot harder than any of the people you meet."

Dillan looked up at Gary, looking a little hopeful.

"So...maybe I'll be as good as you someday?"

Gary took a long pause then sighed and looked back at his team. Eevee turned his head, holding back a giggle. He knew his Trainer quite well and if it was just some average Trainer around his age, he would laugh in their face, wipe a tear, and say "sure, sure."

But instead, he looked back at the boy and said, "that all depends on you. Do you want to work your Pokémon to the bone until they learn these amazingly difficult moves? Odds are many would hate you and want to leave you."

Dillan gave Gary a shocked look and looked down in thought.

"Or you could treat them with love and respect, which would create a strong bond between the two of you and you can be strong in that way. Not as powerful physically, but there will definitely be power."

At this, the boy looked back up to Gary, now a little more hopeful.

"Look, there's more ways to becoming a good Trainer and, honest to Arceus, mine is quite unique. Just find what works for you; what your strength is. Everyone's got something."

With that, Gary left the area with his team in tow, turning to the beach rather than the street.

"So! Since you have enough room to carry me, how about you Surf your way over to Fuschia?" Gary asked, even though they all knew it was a command more than anything.

Blastoise had no problem with this as he wanted to show off everything that he could do anyway. He wasn't afraid to accept that he was a show off and liked to be one. The Pokémon went on all fours and went to the shore of the beach, allowing Gary to climb on along with Eevee. The rest of the Pokémon were returned back into their pokeballs as they were either a little too heavy or could fall off too easily.

* * *

The day passed as Blastoise strolled along the water, not really in a huge rush to get to Fuschia. Not that it would take that long. Coming from Vermilion, going to Fuschia was like a straight shot ahead, so Gary didn't force him to rush.

"So how's it going, big fella?" Eevee said, climbing onto Blastoise's head and looking down at him.

"Pretty easy. You guys are so weightless. Tell Gary to get more meat on his bones," Blastoise said with a small smile as Eevee laughed.

"Yeah, I'll tell him that and the fact that he needs to take that annoying stick out of his butt so he can chill the hell out."

The two laughed at this, causing Gary to look over in curiosity. He didn't say anything, but he lightly smirked and turned away, watching the crescent moon above them. His smile faded afterwards, turning into that frown that he always wore when no one was watching.

Eevee saw this and walked over to him, sensing that something was on his mind. He couldn't help but notice that they were back around Vermilion instead of their route to the next Gym Leader, so something was up with his Trainer.

Slowly, Eevee climbed up onto Gary's shoulder, walking to the other one and looking at Gary. Gary looked back at him and sighed a very deep sigh, picking up the Pokémon and lying back, pulling the blanket that was already on his legs up to his torso and placing Eevee on top.

Eevee could tell that Gary was going to start speaking his mind. He usually started when no one else was around to hear and he would allow Eevee to keep physical contact with him. So, as a good friend and a good pet, Eevee gave him his full attention.

"Out of everyone, I think you can tell what my goal is. And I bet you noticed that we weren't really on the path these past few days."

Eevee nodded.

"Well...I heard that this place has the best type of reception when it comes to calls so...I came here to call May today. I didn't tell her about that whole...Lavender Town thing. Mainly because I didn't want to start crying like a baby in front of her," Gary said, laughing at the end.

Eevee could tell he was getting a little embarrassed.

"But, well, I finally told her. But I realized that the more you hide something, the harder it is to say it...So, when I told her, I cried. At first, she comforted me, telling me it wasn't my fault and all that, but then she scolded me for not telling her sooner. She was pretty mad," Gary said, smiling at the memory.

"I dunno why, but it made me a little happy that she got angry. It shows that she really cares, you know? Heh, probably not."

Eevee cocked an eyebrow then shook his head, enjoying the fact that Gary believes they wouldn't understand just because they were Pokémon.

Gary's eyes shut as he began to relax, finding Blastoise's shell oddly comfortable.

"But yeah...I just had to tell her I guess. Saw Satoshi along the way so that was weird. I couldn't battle him and had to make some excuse as to why I didn't have my fan club with me anymore..."

With that, Gary sighed, lightly turning his head as sleep began overtaking him. With a yawn, he ended the talk with, "yeah. Back to work now..."

Eevee decided to stay on Gary for a few minutes; until he was sure that he was sound asleep and would not be disturbed by small movement. Once he was completely knocked out, Eevee slowly got up and walked over to Blastoise's face again, lying on his head.

"Does he do these kind of talks with you often?" Blastoise quietly asked.

"Yeah. For some reason, he finally realized that Pokémon kind of can't tell other people secrets and I became like a journal to him. I never find it annoying though because, you know, he's our Trainer and it's good to understand him."

Blastoise nodded, feeling sleepiness starting to pull him in.

"Does he talk about me sometimes?"

"Heh, are you jealous?"

"Yes. I am. We started this team together. I don't want to be left out!"

"Well he does these late at night and you're usually one of the first ones to conk out. So it's nobody's fault but yourself."

Blastoise stuck out his tongue; having no real comeback but not wanting to accept this statement.

The two then stayed quiet as the slow moving waves began drifting them to sleep. Eevee let out a squeaky yawn, causing Blastoise to chuckle and murmur, "girl."

"Fatty," Eevee retorted quietly.

Blastoise soon came to a pause, deciding that the middle of the ocean was a safe place to rest. But before completely falling to sleep, a thought went through his mind and he had to get an answer.

"Hey, Eevee?"

"Mm?"

"Has...Gary ever said that we were important? Like...he needs us?"

Eevee opened his eyes, looking down at his friend. Even though he couldn't see his face, he could tell this was quite a serious question. But in return, Eevee shook his head and smiled, saying, "more than you think."

Blastoise's eyes widened at this and he couldn't stop a smile forming on his face.

He slept soundly that night and the next morning, he decided to let everyone sleep in as he continued to make his way to Fuschia City.

* * *

A.N. So changing from Wartortle to Blastoise was annoying for me lol mainly because I had to write a different name and since I type quickly, I would halfway write Wartortle then have to erase it. It happened more than you think lol

But uhm, yeah, I freakin love Wartortle. One of my favorite pokémon so changing him made me a wee bit upset but dude. Hydro Pump lol XD Totally worth it. Especially with those demon cannons like omg, imagine the pain inflicted from those LOL (I am horrible XD)

I personally liked this little chappy :) Kinda simple and just a little bridge to the next part. More connections, EVOLUTIONS, and man I should've put Gary shirtless in this chapter too...He is on a beach...(thinking about editing chapter) lol no let me stop XD But uhm, this chapter had to do with episode called Beauty and the Beach. It's a place that only appeared in the anime and you see Gary there for a moment with his cheerleaders. But of course, in my story, they separated. He still has fans around that enjoy watching him, but not his awesome cheerleaders

lol so R&R and see ya soon! (Honestly, I'm writing these like there's no tomorrow; it's kinda scary XD)


	9. Chapter 9

A.N. So this chapter is a little rated for sexual references. Don't worry I won't go all out on it, but you'll read what leads up to it. So yeah, don't panic XD (although writing the whole scene is perfectly fine with me hehehehe)

But this is a few weeks after the last chapter so he already passed Saffron, Celadon, Fuschia, and the Seafoam Islands. I know some episodes passed through here with Gary and they will be mentioned.

Ok, here we go.

* * *

Gary held up his Volcano Badge, smiling at the glimmer it gave off. He thanked Blaine for the battle and Blaine asked for the return of his key; saying he always enjoyed placing them around the Pokémon Mansion for Trainers to find.

Gary smiled at this and happily returned it; having nothing against tricking people to test their skills.

As he turned to leave, however, he tried to move as quickly as possible because one guy in the gym would not stop watching him.

When he went to battle the guy, the first thing he said was, "hello gorgeous" and looked up and down his body, smirking at what he saw. That obviously make Gary feel uncomfortable, but it gave him more motivation to beat him.

However, the guy watched him until his battle with the Gym Leader, and Gary couldn't help feeling awkward about that. He had no hatred against homosexuals, but he didn't really want to be a part of it. He was just so used to growing up and 'liking the opposite sex' that he couldn't help but find it abnormal when it came to himself.

He, however, questioned that thought when he was on S.S. Anne, but since he tried to avoid his past, he let those feelings deteriorate along with the memory.

Gary noticed the guy follow him out of the gym, not even attempting to hide. Most people tried to do that when they wanted to talk to him.

"Hey, handsome."

Gary sighed and continued walking, pretending that that term wasn't referring to him. But the guy went around and in front of Gary, smirking as he said, "you know I'm talking to you."

"What do you want?"

"Just wanna talk. Is that a problem?"

"Yeah, actually. I'm kind of busy. Becoming Pokémon Champion and all."

"Yeah, I get it, but guys need breaks don't they? C'mon I'll buy you a drink in town. There's a nice little bar there."

Gary sighed again, putting his hand through his hair. This guy knew he was underaged, right? As a matter of fact, this guy himself looked underage.

"How old are you?"

"17. But I have my own fake ID. You don't?"

Gary gave him a look that said "obviously not", but he did, in fact, have one. He and his sister went through this phase of drinking when they were around ten and fifteen (they are five years apart; May being older).

When mourning the loss of their parents, a drunkard that lived close by saw them crying and offered them a drink. May was a great older sister, but during that time, she was going through this teenager phase of wanting to just give up on all responsibilities; including caring for Gary.

So for a good month or so, the two got into drinking every other day. However, once their grandfather found out about all of this, he stopped it immediately and showed them how bad it was. They continued to sneak some alcohol into the house, but after a while (and many hangovers later), they decided to work together to stop before this became a huge addiction.

Since then, Gary hadn't had another alcoholic drink and surely didn't want to start again. Some soda or water was perfectly fine with him.

"Sorry, I don't drink."

"Oh well that's boring. Well, it's a friendly bar; not just for adults. We can just get some sodas or something. How old are you by the way? You look around my age."

Gary looked at this guy, analyzing his character in general.

He was practically the same height as Gary but thinner. His clothes were a typical t-shirt and jeans; showing that he wasn't one to really care about outward looks. His hair was a deep black, short on the back and long, side swept bangs in the front. He had one eyebrow piercing and seemed to have a smug look naturally plastered onto his face.

Overall, he was pretty good looking. However, at this moment, he seemed like he was trying to _attempt_ to be kind to Gary rather than actually being nice.

So far, everything about this guy seemed wrong. Odds are, spending time with him would end up creating some sort of problem (most likely with the police).

Yet, Gary still answered.

"15," Gary replied.

"Pretty young huh...I accept it though. You're coming of age."

"You're 17; you're still young too, idiot."

The guy laughed at Gary's comeback but gave him a certain look that Gary could only describe as 'hungry.' Something about that look told him that this man wasn't to be trusted, but Gary followed him to the bar anyway.

Something about this guy just pulled Gary in, even if it seemed like it was for all the wrong reasons. He wasn't like the people who automatically swooned over him or introduced themselves ever so kindly. He seemed like he wanted to get straight to the point and that interested the brunette. What was the worst that could happen anyway? Gary knew how to take care of himself.

When they made it to the bar, Gary realized that he was right. This was a friendly bar that allowed teenagers and even families in. Of course, since it was getting late, no families were there at the moment, but you could see a variety of people chatting amongst themselves.

Gary followed the guy to a small table near the back; somewhere where most of the people of the bar could not see them. The black haired boy then said he was going to get them some sodas and once he left, Gary placed his head on his hands, murmuring to himself, "what the hell am I doing?"

Everything about this whole scene seemed like it was ending up as a date, and for some reason he accepted that. He actually felt that he was more than accepting of this; he kind of wanted it.

It was true that it had been a long time since he had any type of "physical attention" and he didn't know whether what happened with Liet a month back counted or not. He was aroused to a certain extent, but overall, he didn't seem to want it.

Could he possibly swing that way? He wasn't exactly against the idea but it was definitely...different for him. It's like, many girls and women have asked him out or tried to make a move on him but he would always decline without a second thought. Many were persistent; attempting to follow him to ask again, but he would simply fly off with his Pidgeotto; never looking back.

So why was it that when this random guy became persistent, he went along with it? Curiosity?

Gary's thought was cut off as the guy came back; holding two closed sodas with him.

The seat they were sitting on was a long one that went around the table, so Gary sat on the left end and he sat in the middle, moving closer than normal to Gary.

The brunette looked down to his soda: Orange Soda. He could live with that. He also trusted it because it was a common brand and sealed tightly.

"Yeah, I made sure to get a closed one. I don't want you thinking I'm trying to drug you or anything."

"Yeah, that would really suck," Gary said, drinking his soda. He looked over to the guy again then looked away, noticing that he was still giving him that lustful look.

"How long are you planning on staying? Leaving right after this?"

"I was just gonna stay the night at some inn. Leaving tomorrow morning."

The black haired boy nodded, drinking his soda, which Gary assumed was a Grape Soda.

"Why do you ask?" Gary asked, seeming to want to continue this personal conversation even though he knew it was better to avoid it.

"Just seeing how much time I could have with you before you go."

Gary looked over to the guy who smirked then looked away and continued.

"I work at the gym so I pretty much plan to stay here my whole life. It's a nice place so I have no complaints. I mean, except for one thing."

"...Which is?"

"Watching people like you pass by without being able to have a little chat. So I made sure to do it before it was too late."

Gary felt himself blushing at this. He frowned at his reaction, but kept himself relaxed.

"Is that what you say to all the cute girls?" Gary sarcastically asked.

"It's what I say to the cute _boys_," he replied, emphasizing on the last word.

Gary then realized that this guy had come even closer, sitting next to him now.

This was when the brunette decided to explain some things before things got out of hand. He could feel it slowly getting there.

"Hey, look, I don't- I don't roll that way."

The guy scoffed, sitting back on his seat and drinking more of his drink, replying with a "yeah, ok."

Gary looked over to him, feeling angered and confused.

"What was that supposed to mean?"

"It means that out of all the girls in that gym that went crazy over you and tried to talk to you, you came with the only guy who asked you out. Of course you don't _roll that way_."

Gary's eyes widened at this, but he looked down at his hands that held the container of his drink. He was obviously confused about this as it was something that never went through his mind. Being interested in any other person in general faded away from his thoughts when it came to helping Ash out on his journey. But now that someone was here, talking about what he was interested in; it seemed like everything else didn't matter as much.

"Ohh, I see, you're still in the closet then."

Gary felt his face heat up and he turned to the guy, replying, "no! I just- I don't know! I've never thought about it..."

The black haired boy nodded, looking over to Gary with a nonchalant expression.

"Ok, let me ask you some things then. Have you ever kissed a girl? Or she kissed you; whichever."

"Yeah."

"How was it?"

Gary stayed silent, feeling embarrassed that he was talking about his personal life like this. However, he still answered, shrugging his shoulders and saying, "it was alright, I guess."

"Ok, have you ever touched a woman's body? With or without clothing."

"Yes..."

Gary looked over to the guy who was looking back, waiting for his response on how he felt about it. With a sigh, Gary admitted, "I didn't like the feeling of her breast...But that doesn't mean anything!"

"Of course not, of course not. Did you have sex with this woman?"

"No. No way. She began forcing herself onto me when I didn't want it."

"Damn, and you didn't just go with it? Most straight guys do."

"No, most guys who don't want to have sex do. I just...didn't FEEL anything from her."

"You mean you weren't aroused."

Gary blushed at this and turned away with a sigh. So far, it seemed like one side was really winning at the moment. But did Liet really count? Whenever Gary thought about her in general, he felt a chill of disgust. That wasn't to say another woman would make him feel this way.

"Ok, ok; last question."

Gary turned back to the guy then watched as he moved in closer, only inches away from his face. He could feel his face heating up again as he felt this man's breath against his lips. Why wasn't he moving away?

"Do you find me attractive?" he whispered, looking back and forth from Gary's eyes to his lips.

But Gary seemed to have lost his voice. His heart was pounding as he realized that he did find this man attractive and wouldn't mind him being closer. His body felt as if it was aching for it and the way this guy seemed to tease him really wasn't helping. He found it odd that when women would push themselves onto him, he would never get this type of sensation.

The other teenager smirked at Gary's silence and decided to play with him some more, slowly moving his hand up Gary's leg. He wanted to see how far Gary would go before he told him that it was enough. But to his surprise, Gary allowed it, watching the hand as it moved higher up his leg.

Although he felt like this was odd, Gary invited these advances without hesitation. All he could think about was how this man would feel against him. Would it be different compared to when a women does it?

Once his hand stopped, Gary looked back at this person and waited for anything else to happen. He wanted to break the separation between them, but he was still on the borderline of whether this guy was just teasing him or not.

"It looks like you are attracted to me, aren't you...?" the guy said with a faint smirk.

Gary kept silent, already having lost his voice a long time ago. The blackette smirked and quickly whispered, "if you really don't like this, tell me to stop."

He quickly learned that this was more than teasing when the guy moved his hand between his legs, causing Gary to lightly gasp. This was when he took the chance to press his lips against Gary's; already starting off quite forceful.

Amazingly, Gary found himself kissing back, enjoying the feeling he was getting in the pit of his stomach (and in other obvious places). He eventually turned his body towards the guy, bringing his hands up to his shirt and pulling him closer.

The guy began touching Gary with more force, making Gary open his mouth wider and allow the other inside. Hesitantly, Gary moved his hands down the other's chest, pausing around his torso. But the other quietly laughed into the kiss and pulled one of Gary's hands lower, telling him, "you too."

Gary listened and after a good minute of deep kissing and rough touches, the blackette pulled away and moved to Gary's ear, lightly panting into it then whispering, "what would you say...to a one night stand?"

Gary looked forward, trying to think. His body screamed yes while his head tried to rationalize on what he should do.

"I...don't even know your name," Gary managed to say.

The anonymous guy chuckled and pulled away, looking into Gary's eyes.

"That's the point, handsome. No strings attached. You're leaving tomorrow anyway aren't you?"

The guy kissed Gary again and Gary kissed back, but pulled away after a moment, saying, "I'm...completely new to this."

He looked away, feeling embarrassed, but couldn't help but to move in closer as this guy kissed and licked up his neck.

"Don't worry, I'll teach you what to do. C'mon, what can go wrong?" he said, pulling up Gary's face and kissing him, opening his mouth so Gary could slip his tongue in.

The brunette opened his eyes and stared at this teenager for a moment, seeing how aroused he was and how aroused he, himself was becoming just by this. At that point, something in his mind just told him, 'fuck it,' and he got up and led this nameless person out of the bar and to the inn he was staying in.

* * *

The next morning Gary woke up to the sun shining into his eyes, forcing him to cover his head with his blanket. As he turned to find a more comfortable position, he noticed the sudden ache his thighs gave off, and the memories of last night came shooting back to him like a bullet.

Gary quickly turned around and stared at the other man on his bed; both of them completely naked and under the covers.

With his eyes still wide open, Gary sat up and moved to the side of the bed, placing his hands over his face then moving his fingers to his nose so he could see the floor.

He had just slept with a man, neither knowing each others names, at the age of 15.

He sat there for a moment, just thinking about everything he did. This was when Gary was 100% sure about what he was interested in. He had done things that no straight man would ever even think about doing... with a guy he met yesterday.

The thought of it all gave him shivers down his spine, but he couldn't help but feel ashamed of himself at the same time. What was going through his head?

Slowly, Gary got up and searched the floor for his clothing. Once he found it, he slipped his underwear and pants on, then stared out the window for a few minutes.

After pulling out of his stupor, he put on the rest of his clothing and grabbed his things; thankful that all of his Pokémon were hidden inside of his bag. Could they hear through those?

Pushing that question away, Gary sloppily put his shoes on and walked to the door of his room. He looked back at the black haired boy for a moment then turned around and left; hoping to leave all of this in the past.

Gary decided to find the nearest Pokémon Center and use the free phones there.

There were two kinds there: ones that were near the front for quick calls while the ones in back had small tables connected to the machine so the person could sit and talk comfortably. The reception wasn't as great, but they were good enough; especially because his call was very close by.

Gary went to the one that was furthest away from everyone else, dialed his home phone number, then patiently awaited for May to answer.

After a few moments, Gary saw the screen turn on and Graveler pick up the phone. He was holding a spatula and smiled, saying hello in his own language.

"Hey Graveler. Where's May?"

Graveler pointed up the stairs and tried talking to him, but Gary just nodded and cut him off saying, "yeah, yeah; can you go get her please? I need to talk to her. It's kind of important."

Graveler nodded and put the phone down, walking to the stairs and calling out.

After a few minutes, May came down in her green pajamas, rubbing her eyes. Gary usually smiled at the way her hair looked when she got up but seeing her long, red, flop of hair didn't really affect him today.

May walked over to the table and sat in front of the phone, pulling it up to her ear and looking through the screen.

"Shigeru? It's 6 am, why are you calling so early?"

Gary stayed quiet and just looked at his sister, not knowing where to start this conversation. May noticed this expression and gave him her full attention.

"Gary? What happened? What's wrong?"

"Uhm...May?" Gary lightly laughed and put his hand through his hair, realizing that he didn't brush it before he left his room. As he looked down, he brushed his hair with his hand, trying to figure out what to say. But his mind was in a bit of a blank and he simply kept shut, keeping his gaze on the table in front of him.

"Where are you right now?"

"Cinnabar Island."

"Oh, ok you're pretty close then."

Gary nodded.

May looked at his brother as he kept his eyes averted from hers. She could always tell when Gary was bothered by something and she also knew when he felt ashamed. When he called to tell her about the Lavender Town situation a few weeks back, he looked more bothered and depressed. Now, the look he gave was one that reminded her of when he broke one of her toys and wanted to confess that to her.

But, as always, her little brother never knew how to start it, so she would have to weed the words out with small questions.

"Did you beat the Gym Leader there?"

"Yeah...It was easy as always."

"Don't be cocky, Shigeru."

"I can't help it."

Another moment of silence.

"So...I met someone while I was at the gym."

"...Ok. How was this person?"

"...Honestly, this person was probably the worst type of person you could hang out with. Everything about them screamed that this wasn't a good person...But, I dunno. He asked me out for a drink and...I accepted it."

May frowned, noting the word, 'he,' but allowed Gary to finish his story before putting in her opinion.

"At first, I didn't get why I accepted it. But as we sat in the bar and talked, I started to get it."

May watched as Gary moved his hand to his mouth, lightly touching his lips then covering it.

"I mean, girls always ask me out and want to get to know me, but I usually just say no and keep going. I was never really interested. So, me, suddenly just allowing myself to go with this guy is just-... I dunno."

He stopped talking after that.

"Well what happened when you two went to the bar?"

"Uhm...he took me to some seats in the back; ones made to give you privacy and all. I told him I didn't drink so he just grabbed some sodas. They were closed so that was fine."

"How old was this guy?"

"17."

"Ok then. What did you two talk about?" May calmly asked, already seeming to understand where this conversation was going. But it could take a sudden turn.

"Just uhm...actually we barely talked at all. He asked how long I was staying on the island, I said only one day...and I guess one thing led to another and..."

"...Did he kiss you?"

May noticed Gary's eyes widen and his cheeks starting to redden. Her brother relaxed and nodded.

"Well...did you want to be kissed?"

Gary thought about the question for a moment then nodded, answering, "yeah. I did."

He stopped talking again and May had to wonder what was so bad about this. She decided to take a leap in this conversation; wanting to break the ice as fast as possible.

"Gary...there's nothing wrong with being gay, you know."

"Yeah, I know, I know; it's just-...I guess a big deal. I never thought I was."

"That's ok. Just be more open to it, it should be fine."

"Uhm, there's more."

May folded her legs onto the chair she was sitting on and adjusted the phone to the other ear.

"He..._did that_," Gary said, not wanting anyone around him to know what he was talking about.

"And...I accepted it and just went with it. I enjoyed it even though I met him only 30 minutes ago...then," Gary paused, knowing that this would probably upset his sister.

"Then I...brought him back to the inn I was staying in. To my room."

May's eyes widened, her body leaning closer to the screen.

Gary could feel his heart pounding in his ears. He had no idea why he felt so nervous about this. Maybe the fact that this really seemed wrong to him. It was, wasn't it?

"Gary did you...did you sleep with him?"

Gary covered his face, replying with a hesitant "uuhhhmmm..."

May stayed quiet for a moment, shocked about this whole situation. Then she took a calming breath and asked what she believed was necessary.

"Gary. Did you use protection?"

Gary quickly moved his hand, looking at his sister with a shocked expression as his face turned a deep red.

"May!"

"I'm serious, Gary! I need to know if you were protected for your first time!"

"That's really personal, May. And what makes you think this was my 'first'?"

"Because you came to talk to me about this. I'm your sister and I'm not asking to get into your personal space, I'm asking because I want to make sure that you didn't catch anything! Now tell me: did you use protection?"

"...Yes. Yes, we did," Gary muttered, looking away.

"We? So you both inserted at some point?"

"Oh my gosh. Yes," Gary said as he covered his face, keeping the phone on his ear. This was becoming way too embarrassing, but he knew that if he didn't answer, May would be on his case about it until he told her. He knew that she was just trying to help but still...

"Any oral?"

"May isn't this going a little too far?!"

"Gary!"

"Ok! Ok! Yes, ok?! Arceus, I hate you right now," Gary said as he put his head down onto the table.

After the extremely personal series of questions, May finally asked, "well are you going to see him again?"

"What? No, I don't want to see him again."

"What? Why not? You _slept_ with him."

"May, I didn't even know his name," Gary said as he darkly laughed, feeling ashamed of himself.

May stayed quiet and Gary had to look up at her to make sure she was still there. She was but she looked shocked and a little upset.

"He didn't know my name. And he said that...that didn't matter because it was a one time thing anyway. And that's what I want but I'm just upset at what I did to begin with. Like...how desperate could I be to do something like that...?"

May wanted to scold Gary as she was his elder sister who took care of him for most of her life. But seeing how much he was already beating himself up about it caused her to relax and prefer calming him down.

"Look...you just found out something about yourself. And odds are, you haven't gotten any action in a long time,"

"Shut up."

"No, I'm serious! Physically, your body has been holding in all of these hormones and before, you couldn't find the right thing that gave you the feeling of arousal. Once you did find it, it was just too much."

Gary sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He scratched his shoulder for a moment and May noticed a few marks on it.

"Don't reveal so much if you have bite marks like that," she said, which made Gary flinch then pull his shirt collar up.

The two became quiet again; not sure what should be said next. Gary just felt blank and May didn't know how to truly react about her brother having sexual intercourse at such a young age.

"Uhm, I'm gonna be passing by Pallet Town soon...Since I have 7 Badges I can go to Viridian to beat that final Gym Leader," Gary said, switching the topic way too abruptly.

"...Ok then. Will we talk more once you get back here?"

"Yeah...Sorry."

May shook her head, giving her brother a pitiful look.

"Don't apologize. At least you did everything safely. Well almost. And...hey, now I know I have a gay brother."

Gary laughed at this, telling his sister to shut up again but not as rudely.

"Just come home ok? We'll talk this all out. And if it was just a one night stand just walk away from it. You have no emotional attachment to the guy right?"

"No. None at all."

"Ok then. Just make your way back. Will Pidgeotto fly you here?"

"No. Wartortle evolved the last time I called you. Watch the water."

May smiled and stood up. She nodded then said, "ok. I have some clients today so I might be busy when you come back.* See you soon little bro. Love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

"Bye."

When the phone hung up, Gary leaned back on his chair, deeply sighing. He was wondering why he told his sister about this rather than hiding it for a while. He always had a habit of doing this, so it seemed odd to him.

Shrugging off the unanswered thought, Gary got up and left the Pokémon Center, looking around to find which direction he should Surf towards to get to Pallet Town.

After asking around, Gary found his way and walked down the street that led towards the shore, hoping to leave this place without another moment to spare. To keep his mind occupied, he looked down and analyzed the moves and tendencies of his Pokémon, enjoying the more scientific view of them.

As he played in his thoughts, he didn't notice someone walking his direction and before they realized it, the two slammed into each other, Gary losing his balance but the other falling back.

"Hey watch where you're-" but Gary cut off as he saw Ash rubbing his bottom and looking up at him.

Instantly, he was reminded about his journey and internally swore at himself for even forgetting about this boy.

"Well look who it is. Ready to battle, Satoshi-kun?" Gary said as he grabbed a pokeball from his side.

Ash glared at him and stood up, replying, "I'm always ready to battle! Especially stuck up losers like you!"

Gary smirked at the insult, remembering the many times he had already seen Ash throughout his journey.

Since Porta Vista, Ash bumped into him a few times; one on a path to Fuschia City where some people were having Diglett problems. But when they could not battle the Diglett, Gary decided to leave as he felt as if there was nothing else he could really do.

He tried to battle Ash then but Ash said he was busy trying to help these people. Gary found that reply silly and told him he was just wasting time here, but Ash stayed and helped them anyway.

Another time was when Gary was sneaking his way into Saffron, where there was said to be two gyms and Team Rocket causing some trouble.

He mainly fought his way through the Rockets to train, as there weren't many Trainers outside. But once he saw Ash fighting his way through the building for a _reason_, Gary decided to let him finish off the boss.

After a battle of course. He was generous enough to heal Ash's team after his loss and left, caring more about his Gym battles rather than that idiotic group.

The last time they met up was in a place called Grampa Canyon; somewhere between Fuschia and Cinnabar Island.

Gary was there to search for fossils inside of a cave; even though he was afraid to go inside of them. He forced himself in there, though, to not only find out more about Pokémon, but to try to conquer his fear of caves.

Ash appeared at some point, saying he was looking for fossils as well and Gary found that interesting; saying he was amazed that Ash would attempt something that needed a lot of patience.

They battled there and Gary won, gloating as always.

Gary hated to admit it, but Ash was going at a good pace since he was here at Cinnabar already.

"So where are your friends? Finally left you behind?"

"No! They were in town and I decided to look around! ...they're probably trying to find me now," Ash replied. It wasn't exactly a great retort though.

Gary chuckled and called out his Growlithe, Ash calling out his Pikachu afterwards. The two battled on an empty street that overlooked the shore. And as the many times before, Gary beat Ash.

Yet, Gary could tell that Ash was getting stronger by each fight. He never cared about type advantages and worried more on strategy. Gary was secretly proud of his improvement and couldn't help but to wonder if his whole journey was a complete cakewalk, unlike his.

As Gary was going to say his good bye to Ash, his attention was caught by someone who was walking up the street.

His smirk quickly faded to shock as he saw the same man he met yesterday.

"Hey there, handsome! I thought you would be gone by now! You weren't lying to me, were you?" he said with a smirk, looking over at Gary's Pokémon.

Ash looked over to the guy, wondering who he was then back at Gary. He was shocked to find him staring at him with wide eyes. But before the other man could notice, Gary looked away, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I-I'm leaving now."

"Oh, don't be so shy around me," the guy said as he walked up to Gary.

He was going to put an arm around his shoulders but Gary pushed him away, taking a step away and clearing his throat.

"Uhm, do you know this guy?" Ash asked, being oblivious to the tension between them.

"Know me? Yeah, do you know me?" the black haired guy asked, looking over to Gary.

Gary looked back and forth between the two for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Eventually, he nodded and looked over to Ash, saying, "yeah. I know this guy. But that doesn't matter, aren't you supposed to be battling a Gym Leader?"

"Oh, well I haven't seen a gym here. I heard there was one but we're still looking around."

"Well hey! I can give you a few clues to where you can find the gym!"

Gary looked over to the nameless guy, giving him a sharp look as he walked over to Ash.

"You can?" Ash happily asked.

"Sure! You're a friend of his right? Just follow me and-"

"No!"

Ash watched as Gary ran in front of the guy, blocking him from Ash.

"You don't need his help. Look, he's not into any of that so leave him alone."

The guy's smirk grew, walking closer to Gary.

Gary, in turn, took a step back, lightly pressing onto Ash.

"Oh, really? What makes you think I want that?"

"You made it pretty damn clear last night about what you wanted. And I'm telling you to stay the hell away from him."

The guy gave Gary a shocked look then laughed and nodded.

"Oh ok I get it, I get it. You're with this one then."

"No! It's nothing like that," Gary yelled, feeling his face turning red.

"Ohh so you like him."

The blackette moved in close, going to Gary's ear.

"Obviously not that much if you let me fu-" but Gary punched the guy in the stomach before he could finish that sentence.

He roughly pushed him away and stood in front of Ash, ready for a fight if necessary.

"Gary, who is that guy?" Ash asked from behind, placing his hand on Gary's arm to catch his attention.

"Oh my handsome. Is that your name?" the guy asked, standing up straight.

Gary glared at him then slowly stated, "leave right now. He has nothing to do with what happened and isn't interested. What happened was a mistake that I don't plan on doing again, so leave now."

The guy looked at Gary for a moment, seeming confused.

He looked down and shook his head, saying, "you regret it, don't you? As _bad_ as you wanted it and you regret it."

"It was just a moment of weakness alright?! Look, I'm thanking you for being patient with me at the time. You respected me and I'm glad about that. But _like you said_, it was just a one time thing and that's the end of it. That includes this guy behind me," Gary said, pushing away all apprehension as he spoke to the one person who made him feel those immense, physical emotions.

The two looked at each other for a moment and Ash kept quiet, knowing that breaking this silence would be odd. What were they talking about? What did Gary do with this person that he didn't want Ash to do?

"Alright handsome. I'll leave your little boyfriend alone. Won't say a thing. On one condition."

At that, the guy walked towards Gary and Gary met up half way, making sure Ash had some distance between them.

He moved to Gary's ear again, Gary realizing that this must be a thing that he liked to do.

"I'll butt out, if you tell me that you loved absolutely everything I did to you last night."

The guy backed up, thinking that he won this argument, but Gary sighed and moved close to the blackette again, placing a hand on his shoulder. He realized that certain measures had to be taken to stop this.

Ash curiously watched, only being able to see this other guys face, wondering what Gary was saying. He was very close to this guy and Ash found that odd because Gary never liked being close to others. Not since he was a child anyway.

"Tell me your name," Gary whispered.

"What?"

"I want to know your name," Gary restated, forcing his voice to sound intimate.

The guy paused and looked up to Ash, seeing how confused he was. He then looked back down and whispered back, "...Vincent."

Gary sighed, feeling, in a sense, happy that he finally could label this person that made such a strong connection with him.

"Vincent. I loved absolutely _everything_ we did last night."

Vincent lightly gulped, feeling nervous with the way Gary spoke to him.

"But...at the same time, I regret it. Because I don't know you, Vincent. And you don't know me... In a way, I wish I did know you more," Gary lied. He could tell that Vincent was softening because of the way he was speaking and what he was saying. It was amazing how this could trick people so easily to make it seem like you care.

"But we can't do anything about that now. Thank you...but I want to completely cut this off. And _please_, leave him out of it..._please_. He's a good kid."

Vincent roughly sighed, turning away from them all to hide his face. Gary stepped away from Vincent and turned to Ash, holding in the sigh that desperately wanted to escape.

"Go find your friends, Ash."

"Gary, what the heck happened?"

"It doesn't matter, just go."

"Yes, it does matter since you don't want me doing whatever you did. What the hell did you do?"

Gary blinked and rubbed his eyes, feeling too stressed for this.

"Calm down kid, I just bought him a drink."

The two younger boys turned to Vincent as he spoke.

"After his battle in the gym, he was stressed and wanted a drink. So me, having my fake ID and all, bought him one."

"Gary? You drink alcohol?" Ash said, seeming a little upset with him.

Gary looked at Vincent for another moment then turned to Ash, saying, "like I said before it was just a moment of weakness. I'm not doing it anymore; this was the last time."

"Yeah...If someone wants one I just get it for them without really thinking about it. It was mainly my fault for that and obviously, your little friend doesn't want you doing the same mistake," Vincent said, lightly smiling.

"...Gary I don't get you. Do you hate me?"

Gary blinked and was about to reply but Ash cut him off.

"You confuse me! You annoy me and call me names yet when it seems like someone is actually gonna do something bad to me, you step up and protect me more than anyone else! So do you hate me or are you just being a douche for no reason?"

Gary looked at Ash for a moment then shook his head, wondering how truthful he should be right now.

"Ash...I don't hate you. I never have and, honestly, I can't, even if I wanted to."

Ash gave Gary a confused look, not understanding his rival.

"Then why-"

"Satoshi!"

Ash turned to see Misty and Brock running towards him, smiles on their faces.

"Satoshi, I found a clue about the gym on this island! We have to go to the Pokémon Mansion!" Misty said with a wide smile.

"Oh, Shigeru. How are you?" Brock asked, catching Gary's attention.

Gary paused to look at the two then realized this was a way out.

"Fine thanks, but I have to go. Got a lot of work to do, you know? Smell ya later Satoshi-kun!" Gary called out as he went the opposite direction to get to the shore.

"Gary!"

The brunette turned around, looking over to Ash who was frowning at him. He looked like had something important to say, but gave up on it and instead, yelled out, "sort yourself out before you do something stupid again!"

Ash gave him an ashamed look then turned to Misty, listening to what she had to say.

Gary sighed at this and put his hand through his hair before turning back and leaving.

"If he gets that upset about you drinking, imagine if he knew the truth," Vincent said, Gary now realizing that he was following him.

"He won't. You won't tell him! And neither will I. Not anytime soon anyway," Gary replied as he took off his shoes and socks to walk on the sand.

The two silently walked across the beach until Gary made it to the shore, grabbing Blastoise's pokeball.

Before leaving though, he turned to Vincent, expecting him to say something to him. He was hoping that it had nothing to do with feelings. He did not want to deal with this guy falling for him all because he faked an innocent, loving voice. That wasn't a bad idea, right?

"So...your name's Shigeru, right?"

Gary nodded.

"Yeah. Shigeru Gary Oak."

Vincent held his hand out, saying, "Vincent Levine."

Gary looked at the hand for a moment then grabbed it, giving him a strong handshake. But he knew that even if this guy wanted to, they probably wouldn't even be able to stay as friends. Not after what happened. Simply holding his hand gave Gary an odd feeling and he didn't want that.

That was when Gary noticed that Vincent hadn't let go yet. Oh no, being nice was a bad idea...

Gary watched as Vincent pulled him close and held his chin, softly kissing Gary on the lips. Gary shut his eyes, vividly remembering his taste and regretfully remembering all the memories that came with it. He had to teach himself how to hate this.

There was no movement to the kiss; just nice and simple; and after a moment, Vincent pulled away, looking into Gary's eyes.

"Listen. Next time you see me...I wanna try again."

"...We agreed to breaking this right after, Vincent."

"Yeah, I know and I'm breaking that agreement because I want to try to have something with you. It doesn't have to be now or even until next month or next year. Just...know that when you see me, I will fight to get you. Compared to that oblivious boy you've got a crush on, I know I have a chance," Vincent said with a wink.

Gary didn't reply to this, as there was nothing he really could say. Vincent then found this moment to leave, turning around and walking off without another word.

Gary called Blastoise out and quickly climbed on top of the Pokémon, telling him where to go then deeply sighing once they began to move.

"Dammit, Arceus why do you have to bring me so much drama?" Gary said as he looked up into the sky.

He sat with his knees up and his shoulders placed overtop of them, his head resting on one of his forearms. His mind couldn't help but to stay on Vincent and whether he would ever give him a chance. He thought a long time about this, but soon came to understand that it was impossible.

In his list of priorities, his friends and family came before relationships like that. Ash was more important to him and he would rather suffer trying to take care of him than leave it all behind for some guy.

Besides, the guy looked as if he was getting interested in Ash just a moment ago! And he would not stand for that.

Eventually, his mind dwelled around the things he did with Vincent and as his mind wandered and mixed different thoughts together, the sudden visual of Ash doing those things with him appeared.

Gary's face burned at the thought of Ash making those faces and moving in those positions and he had to violently shake his head to pull his mind away from that. Ash would never be interested in things like relationships. He was too busy with his Pokémon and letting that revolve around his life. It's not like it was Ash's fault he was like that though...

'Wait...could I possibly be doing this for Ash because I...have feelings for him?' Gary thought.

His mind ran through the idea, but as his embarrassment grew, he chose to not think about it anymore. It seemed just...too weird. And the simple fact that he didn't even know if Ash would ever be interested. How could he figure that out? Could he ask his family? But it was just his mom and how weird would that be?

With a frustrated sigh, Gary told Blastoise to hurry home as he just wanted to relax for a while. His head hurt as he tried to over think things again. It was better to only do that during scientific research. Over thinking things like relationships just got in the way and tended to ruin your life (so Gary says).

He had to think about what his objectives were now. His adventure was close to being done. All he needed was the Earth Badge in Viridian City, then he could make his way to the Indigo League, destroy the Elite Four, and then become the Champion. He would wait for Ash to come and let him win so he can become the new Champion and feel as if he could accomplish anything.

The after that...

Gary's eyes widened as he realized he didn't know what he would do after this. Become a professor? It was something that he wanted and can easily do...Hopefully that wouldn't cause Ash to lose his morale. He would most likely be confident enough to make it on his own.

Still, even as Gary planned out the future, it felt incomplete. He wouldn't mind being a professor but that just seemed too...boring.

There would be no excitement in that type of lifestyle; even if he managed to discover many different types of Pokémon.

Gary ruffled up his hair and looked forward, giving his brain a rest. He seriously had to stop thinking; just in general.

Tomorrow was going to be a new day and he had to prepare himself for a challenging battle he assumed was ahead. All these dramatic events were not helping in any way. It was better to leave it all behind...So that was what he chose to do.

And with that thought in mind, Gary watched the water ahead of him and managed to tell himself that this was almost done and that everything will eventually be alright.

* * *

A.N. *When you read up about May or if you ever played the games and talked to her, she was a Pokémon Masseuse. Her career changed up through time, so it will in my story too.

DON'T HATE ME FOR DOING THIS TO SHIGERU lol I mainly made it that he found out that he was gay this way because, well, people find out differently. And the way I made Gary is that he avoids absolutely anything that doesn't benefit the mission at hand. So I thought the best way for that to get through his head is it ACTUALLY HAPPENING.

I mean, think about it. If he just kissed the guy and left it at that, he would've done the same thing he did with Liet and just shrug it off as something that just happened but doesn't mean anything. So yeah, I found this necessary. (Plus I wanted some yaoi action. Even if it was just a bit lol I was happy I put that. A little sad I didn't put the whole thing but I would be betraying myself because it's not Palletship! Lol)

IF YOU WANT TO I decided to sketch out how I visualized Vincent. It's on my deviantart page; my name is unisama and it's labeled Vincent Levine. Curse fanfiction for not allowing links.

Uhm, the ending became really jumbled up but I kind of wanted that feeling, where this is all just too much for Gary. Although maybe the end sucked, I dunno... TELL ME.

And trust me, just like Liet, this won't be Vincent's last moment on stage ;D Honestly, I like this OC. Lol I dunno why.

SO the next chapter is gonna be Gary at home for a little while, just talking to his family and getting some thoughts through his head, because as you can tell, he likes evading all problems and just running away from them. And we all know that that doesn't end well :)

I'm debating doing the Viridian battle as another chapter or that could be the end of the next chappy...who knows lol I'll figure it out. :)

Anyway! R&R for me! REVIEWS=BRAIN JUICES


	10. Chapter 10

Evening came in the town of Pallet as May finished with one of her clients. She petted the small Rattata and looked up at its Trainer, who thanked her and gave her money for the massage.

As soon as they left, May relaxed, letting her long, scarlet hair loose. She left her home and walked over to the edge of town where an opening to the ocean laid.

She knew her little brother would be coming soon as Cinnabar Island was quite close to Pallet Town. You could even faintly see the island from where she was standing.

After a few minutes of quietly watching the sea, May squinted her eyes at a figure that was coming closer. Her eyes widened as she saw a Blastoise and a Trainer with a flop of red hair coming her way.

Although she had a deep and personal conversation with him this morning, she couldn't help but to brightly smile at his arrival. It had been so long since she last saw him face to face.

After a few minutes, Gary waved from the distance and May waved back, standing on her toes even though it wasn't necessary. As her brother came closer, his Blastoise slowed down and May took a few steps back so the water wouldn't hit her feet.

When Gary was finally into the small bank of water, May instantly noticed his growth. He had grown taller since he left, obtained a stronger build, and his hair has grown to slightly cover his eyes. She decided she'd ask him later if he wanted her to cut it.

When Gary climbed off of his Pokémon, he walked up to May and stood in front of her for a moment. May brightly smiled at her brother's hesitant expression then opened her arms, Gary meeting her halfway for an embrace. As she was much taller, she made sure to bend down a little so her chest wouldn't be directly on his face.

Either way, Gary tightly held her, saying, "hey."

"Hey, Shigeru. I missed you."

Gary nodded and sighed, replying, "yeah. Missed you too."

"I made you some lemonade from Aspear and Mago Berries; your favorite."

"You don't have to make my favorite meals anymore, you know," Gary replied as he let go of his sister.

May smirked, placing a hand on her hip.

"No, you got it wrong. I made some for myself and just kept a couple drops for you because I didn't want to waste any of it. You know I couldn't care less about you."

Gary smiled and shook his head at this. He missed his sister's cruel sense of love.

"Well with the way you make it, trust me, I'm glad there isn't much left. I want to live, thank you."

May laughed at his retort then turned to the Pokémon who climbed out of the water and was drying himself off.

"Wooow. Look at you. You look great Wartortle- oh, I mean, Blastoise."

Blastoise smiled at May then looked around the town. It hadn't changed one bit since they first left, which was something he always enjoyed about this small place.

After Gary recalled Blastoise, the two walked back to their home, bantering back and forth. This was usually the way for them to show their affection as they both found it a little difficult to express it.

As soon as they made it to the house, Gary saw Graveler watering the berry trees in front, looking nice and calm. Cooking, Cleaning; now watering their plants? Has his Pokémon always been such a softy?

As May called out to him, Graveler turned around and gasped when he saw his Trainer.

"Don't tackle me!" Gary yelled out as he came running over.

But the Graveler ignored Gary's command as he picked Gary up in an embrace. Gary angrily struggled to get out, telling him to get off, but Graveler knew how his Trainer was and he knew that one hug wouldn't get him too upset.

Once he let go, Gary sighed and called out all of his Pokémon, telling them to play outside while he talked with his sister. They happily complied, running off together to play around.

Instead of it only being a couple drops of lemonade, May actually had a whole pitcher for him and Gary took a cupful, saying he would try his best to digest all of it.

"Do you have anymore clients today?" Gary asked as he sat at the table across from May.

"None that I know of. But if necessary I might reschedule them since you're here."

"No, no don't do that. I won't be staying long."

"Yes, you will."

Gary gave May a confused look.

"Little bro, you have been through _way_ too much hell to just leave. I want to talk and figure out some things before you go."

"*sigh* This has to do with Cinnabar, right?"

"Not only that. There are some things that you need to know that... I think you don't know yet."

"Like what?"

"...Like..."

May paused, wondering if she could really bring this up right away. Out of everything that he's told her throughout his whole journey, she noticed one key person this revolved around and she had to wonder whether this was all about said person.

"Like why you are on this journey to begin with."

Gary's eyes widened when she said this, but he looked down at his drink as he pulled the cup up to drink some more.

"Look, Shigeru, I can tell something had been going on. I know you don't want to be a Pokémon Master."

"What? What makes you think that?"

"Shigeru, ever since you were a kid, you always were more interested in the scientific part of Pokémon rather than actually winning a battle or being the best..."

Gary put his cup down as he put his hand through his hair. He always had a habit of doing that when he felt stressed over something. He could sense the pressure that was going to come along with this conversation.

To that, May bit her lip then said, "but right now you must be tired, right? How about reminiscing with your room for a little while? I actually need to go talk to someone in town."

Gary looked up at May for a moment, before sighing and agreeing with her.

"We'll talk tonight then?" Gary asked as he refilled his cup and made his way to the stairs.

"Yeah. I'll be back soon. Don't run away!"

But Gary left before she could see any sort of reply.

Once May left the house, Gary went up to his room, drinking the lemonade. He missed this drink and the luxuries of sleeping in a comfortable bed. Even though he occasionally slept in an inn or motel, most of the time he slept outside. Mainly because he wanted to save money or their just wasn't one around.

Opening his door, Gary looked around his room, noticing that everything was the same, excluding some areas being a little more clean. May must've cleaned it (or more logically, Graveler because she stopped cleaning his things ages ago.)

Sighing, Gary drank some more of the lemonade and placed it on top of his drawer so he could drop his body onto his bed. He deeply inhaled the familiar smells and cuddled into his bed, feeling extremely comfortable all of the sudden.

A nap wouldn't hurt. May was planning on keeping him here for a little while anyway. Still, he had to leave soon or Ash would pass him and he didn't want that.

As he tightly held onto his pillow, Gary looked around his room, seeing many childhood trinkets and posters of bands he used to like. He actually forgot about the joys of music. He should listen to some before going to sleep.

As his eyes continued to survey the contents of his room, he suddenly noticed a brown box hidden under some of his old toys. It was full of Pokémon cards, but seeing that box reminded him of the one he had hidden in his closet.

Slowly, he stood up and walked over to his closet, opening the door and looking through the many articles of clothing being held by hangers. He's been wearing the same clothes for so long that he lost interest in even wearing these. For a moment he wondered if it all still fit him before discarding the thought and bending down to look at the items on the floor. Pushing some things to the side, Gary found the small, brown box he hid years ago. It wasn't too heavy and it had a small layer of dust covering it. The fact that it looked so worn out depressed Gary, as he knew the contents inside reflected the same feeling.

He brought the box out and placed it on top of his bed, lying down again. Once he was comfortable, he opened the box and looked inside. The box was never opened so the things inside weren't as dusty.

There were two filled photo albums, small folded notes, and other small trinkets in there. Gary remembered that when his rivalry with Ash turned sour, he told himself he had to pretend to be mean to him, so he had to hide all the things he had that were from Ash or reminded him of his old best friend.

Gary took out a green photo album and laid back down on his pillow, opening the first page.

_"Ash and Gary Adventures" _

Gary chuckled and shook his head at the silly title, forcing the sadness out of his mind of how much pain this one sentence made him feel.

As he turned to the next page, he looked at each memory, amazingly finding it hard to remember them.

There was one of them fishing with his grandfather. Gary had caught a Magikarp and Ash was cheering for him. Another was of them playing in the forest around the town, another in the park, one of them rolling down the hill that went up to his grandfather's lab, and many more.

Gary bit his lip, trying to hold back how sad these pictures made him feel. He missed the friendship they had. Of course, he would never admit it, but he wanted it back so much that it hurt because he had no other friends. He could make some easily, but the fact was he didn't want any other friends. Just Ash...

He turned a page and blushed at a picture of his younger self kissing Ash on the cheek. Although it was a little embarrassing, he couldn't help but to smile. Did he understand what love was at that age?

He continued to turn pages, finding many moments of them being severely close and happy; even moments where they were taking a bath together when they were too young to speak.

He faintly remembered times when Ash's mom would help take care of him and his sister. She was practically a second mom to him.

Before putting the album back, Gary turned back to the page of where he kissed Ash and stared at it for a minute or so. He then sat back up and looked back into the box, pushing the other album to the side and grabbing a bunch of photos that were out and scattered.

Leaning on his arm, he looked through the pictures, finding ones that he took himself instead of someone taking it for them. Gary would sloppily hold the camera and take a picture of him and Ash together.

The first one he saw was of himself holding the camera with both hands, lying on the ground with a big, goofy smile. Ash was backwards, his head next to his and smiling up at the camera. Ash was missing a tooth and Gary giggled at how childish it made him look.

Another was of Ash taking a picture of Gary while they played in the water near Pallet Town; the same area from where he came today. Gary laughed at the next picture as it was of him jumping into the water, about to do a cannonball.

He found another of himself shooshing to the camera as Ash slept on his bed; probably when Ash would sleep over.

While looking through the large stack, Gary noticed that a folded note fell into the pile and he decided to open it to see what was inside.

As he read it, his expression changed. He sat up and took out a few more, keeping them next to him as he read the notes that he and Ash would pass back and forth to each other during class. Why did he ever keep these...?

* * *

Gary, I wanna play in the forest tuday. :)

_TODAY. And ok. Tag? _

No. Hide and Seek. You find me this time!

* * *

are you mad? I'm sorry I hit you.

_It's ok Ashy. I'm sorry I called you stupid. Your A should be capital._

Can we play tuday today?

_After we do our homework. _

Yay! I luv you, Gary! :)

_LOVE. And I love you too._

* * *

I'm scared! will we get marreed Gary?

_MARRIED. And I don't think we will. Why? _

Mom said that people who luv each other get married! And I luve you but I dunt wanna get married!

_LOVE, DON'T. And we're not gonna get married. We can't until we're older. And I won't make you unless you want to. _

Oh. Ok. Do we have kiss and stuff if we get married?

_Yeah. Because that's what they do I think_.

Ok. I like kisses.

_I know. If we get married, I'll give you lots._

Yay!

* * *

Gary felt his face heat up at the last sloppily written sentence. They truly didn't understand about relationships at that time. They practically acted like a couple! Did their families know about these notes?

Gary sighed and moved on to another one, wondering how he felt about Ash right now.

* * *

Darrel said you don't want me to be your frend anymore...why?

_FRIEND. I never said that! You're my best friend in the whole world! Don't talk to Darrel anymore. _

so you wanna be friends?

_Always. Forever and ever! Darrel is just being stupid. We don't need other friends. Just you and me. You need a capital S at the beginning._

Ok. I like that. Other people are meen. :(

_MEAN. Yeah, I know. Will you come to my house today? We can eat and play together._

Ok! :)

* * *

Why can't we play every day? I don't like school.

_You need to learn, Ash._

But I just wanna be with you every day. You can be my teacher!

_I'm not that smart. _

But we still should! We should run away from home and live together in our own house! So other kids can stop messing with us and calling me names. Anna took my candy today too. :(

_You can have mine. Don't be sad. And ok. _

Ok? We can run away?

_If it's just you and me, yeah. These other kids aren't nice. I would like to live with you. _

Why?

_...Because I love you. Duh._

* * *

Gary put the paper down, covering his mouth and taking a shuddered breath as his eyes began to water. How could he forget such a connection he had? How could Ash forget how close they were? What broke them apart?

...Right. Pokémon.

Pushing the papers aside, Gary sniffed and went back into the box and looked at some of the toys Ash had given him when they were young. They were simple things that Gary didn't really remember getting, but he must have kept them for a reason.

There was even a Valentine's Day card that Ash gave him, saying how much he loved him, how they would always be "bestest friends", and that everyone else could disappear and he would still be happy (except for their families though. He made sure to point out that he didn't want them disappearing).

Gary laughed and shook his head, deciding to label this as childish. They both didn't understand what they were doing and no one labeled it as wrong. Because as kids, they were completely gay for each other without even realizing it!

The realization of that made Gary laugh but feel depressed at the same time. It made him wonder if he regretted the choices he made. If he hadn't started this whole fight with Ash, how would their relationship be? Would Ash still be interested in becoming a Pokémon Master? Or would he have been upset and not knowing what to do?

He chose to drop those questions, as only Arceus would know the answer to that.

He finally went for the red photo album, getting ready for some other painful memories. Gary opened the front page and sighed at the next silly label.

"Ash and Gary Adventures 2"

As he turned to the next page, he realized that instead of looking young and happy, the two were now a little older and expressing the exact opposite of happiness. Gary was smirking at Ash, most likely mocking him, while Ash yelled at him, looking downright furious and red.

The next page was another of them looking as if they were in an argument, then as he turned a few more pages, he bit his lip, noticing it was empty.

He continued to turn then realized that there was nothing else in there; in other words, their journey together came to an end.

Gary shut the book and groaned, never knowing that this 'break up' was more painful than anything else he had felt.

After pushing everything to one side of his bed, Gary laid back down on his bed and covered his face with his hands, thinking about Ash until his breath flaunted its own lethargy; becoming slow and sluggish.

Could he fix this whole mess that was created? He had no idea how, but the thought of them talking and having fun together managed to relax Gary's mind for the time being.

The brunette fell asleep soon afterwards.

* * *

May sighed and walked out of the house, knowing that this must be rough on her brother, but before she could really talk to him, she had to get some facts straight about his past. And the best person for that was Satoshi's mother, Delia.

She would've gone earlier but she was busy the entire day so she didn't exactly have time.

Walking over to her neighbor's house took about fifteen minutes. Once she was there, May knocked on the door and waited for Delia to answer. The door opened and May saw Delia brightly smile and greet her.

"Oh hello, May! How have you been today?"

May felt herself soften at the woman's words. Something about her presence just had this way of making others feel at ease.

"Pretty good. I had some clients today and Shigeru came back for a visit."

Delia somehow brightened even more at this, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Oh, Shigeru's back? That's wonderful! It makes me wonder if Satoshi might come around soon. I sure do miss him."

"Actually, I came here to talk to you about your son."

Delia gave May a confused look, lightly cocking her head to the side.

"And...my brother."

Delia continued to look at her before warmly smiling and replying, "ooh I understand. Please, come in!"

May walked into the nicely kept house, seeing nothing out of order. May wondered if she felt just as lonely as she did with her relative gone.

They walked over to the kitchen where a small table stood, May sitting down on one side.

"Oh! How about I get us something to drink. Some Oran juice?"

"I'm fine with that, thank you," May replied.

Delia nodded and went to the fridge, grabbing the pitcher of juice and pouring some of the blue drink for May and herself.

Once Delia gave May her drink and was seated, May took a deep breath and began to talk.

"I wanted to ask you: do you remember when Shigeru and Satoshi were inseparable?"

Delia smiled into her cup, remembering those days quite vividly. She could look out her own window and remember watching the two playing outside; away from all the other children.

"Of course I remember. They would never play with anyone else."

"Do you remember when that all stopped?"

Delia thought for a moment before saying, "I believe so. I remember...Ashy looking really upset and Shigeru took him on a camping trip to make him feel better. After that night, Ash and Shigeru would argue and always fight...It made me wonder what they fought about."

"Yeah...I kind of remember that too. That was...when Gary told me that he wanted to be a Pokémon Trainer. I found that so weird because he always wanted to be a Professor like Gramps. I still find it odd to this day. Whenever he called me, he would tell me about his battles but in the most 'scientifical' way..."

"So...maybe Shigeru became a Pokémon Trainer for Ash."

May looked up at Delia, feeling confused.

"Why would he do that though? Why was Satoshi upset to begin with?"

"When I talked to him before he went camping, I'm pretty sure he was upset because Shigeru was becoming a Professor. Maybe Ash wanted to be a Trainer and was upset that Shigeru wasn't going with him."

"So...Gary told him he would become one to make Satoshi happy?"

"Probably...Or," Delia looked down at her cup, softly moving the liquid around.

"-maybe Shigeru...knew what he wanted to be and would always talk to Ash about it. Maybe that made Ash feel like he wasn't good enough. My boy was never one to think about the future."

May sighed, drinking the Oran juice and blinking at how delicious it was. She then put it down and said, "I don't know. It's hard to understand them and what could've happened."

"It's not that difficult to know what's going through my son's head. You probably wouldn't understand because you're not a mother, but I just had this connection with Ash; all mothers do when they have a child. That's what I think anyway. But, I noticed that Ash would get upset when Shigeru talked about what he wanted to be. I never thought that it would affect him so badly though. Shigeru always cheered him up, saying that Ash could become his helper when he became a Professor. And I know my son, he wasn't into all that science stuff. He enjoyed just playing with Pokémon and I thought he would be a good Breeder, but eventually your brother got him into battling the Pokémon, which he enjoyed much more."

May drank some more of her Oran juice, thinking this through. She didn't think it would actually go this far, but would Gary change everything, just to make Ash happy?

"You don't think...Gary did this whole adventure just for Satoshi, right? I mean, by everything we have said, Gary would do anything to make him happy...Could he have taken it that far?"

Delia put her drink down onto the table and folded her hands, looking down at the table to think.

"Gary...he always, _always_ took care of Ash. I remember...at some point that I didn't even need to watch them playing anymore because I knew that Gary would take care of him..."

Delia warmly smiled and looked at May, a small smirk forming on her face.

"Did he finally admit to having feelings for Ash?"

May blinked in surprise, not realizing that she knew about this as well.

However, she smiled, saying, "no I don't think so. But...he has found out that he likes men. So that's a start."

'Even though he found out in one of the worst ways possible,' May thought. It seemed best not to tell people about Gary's actions back in Cinnabar.

Delia nodded, replying, "good. I knew he was into boys ever since he was a child! Did you see it too?"

May nodded with a sympathetic smile. "Of course. Who couldn't? With the way they would act like a couple. They even kissed each other on the cheek almost daily."

"Remember when they accidentally kissed on the lips? They both became so red but wanted to try it again and we had to tell them not to because only parents did that," Delia said with a big smile.

May laughed with Delia at the memory then said, "should I talk to him about it? Maybe help him understand that he's liked Ash for a long time? He doesn't even realize that many things he's done in this journey was to protect your son."

Delia thought about the idea for a moment, then shrugged with a smile, saying "I honestly don't know, May..."

The two stayed quiet for a moment, May finishing her drink and thanking Delia for it.

"How about instead of just telling him, how about hinting towards it? Just bringing up what Shigeru wanted to be, and why he started all of this. I don't exactly know why Shigeru would go so far to take care of my son, but if I could make an assumption, I would only say that he loves him a lot more than he thinks."

May nodded, agreeing with Ash's mother. She looked up at the clock in the kitchen, seeing that an hour had already passed. Time sure flied when speaking about the past. She had to get back before Gary decided to leave.

The redhead stood, smiling and thanking Delia for all of the information given. Delia walked her to the door and before she left, she made sure to tell May to be careful with Gary.

"Even as a child, I could always tell that he hid his emotions and what he truly felt. A lot of it was for the sake of Ash. So give him time to realize it on his own. And don't let him know that we predicted this ages ago."

Delia giggled afterwards and May smiled, agreeing that this relationship was foreseen many years ago.

"Oh right, and if you can, can you talk to Ash as well? Odds are he will come to visit for a little while and I plan on keeping Gary in the house for at least tonight and tomorrow morning. Maybe they can talk while they're here?"

Delia nodded, replying, "don't worry, that will be easy. All I have to do is beg a little and Ash will stay as long as I want."

May nodded and waved goodbye to Delia, walking back to her house. She looked up at the falling sun, thinking of her little brother when he was younger.

That boy's mind was always either on Ash or Gramps and his Pokémon research. School was never a problem for him because his grandfather taught him many things beforehand. He could name almost all 150 Pokémon known in their region and knew that there were even greater Pokémon at different places at such a young age.

However, he was a little bullied around First grade. In Second, Gary would get into fights when trying to defend himself or Ash (mainly Ash). At some point, the other kids learned to leave the two alone because one way or another, Gary was going to tell them to back off or he'd hit them.

Since then, it was always just them battling the world. Ash would sometimes try to make new friends when he was angry at Gary, but in the end, he always felt like other kids just weren't good enough.

Around Fourth grade was when their rivalry began, May now assuming that it had to do with that camping trip they went on. But even though Gary would battle Ash with Pokémon cards a lot more than usual, he still visited his grandfather almost daily to learn more about the technology in his lab.

So the sudden desire to become a Pokémon Master definitely didn't make sense. She had to figure out what Gary said during that little camping trip they had and maybe reminding him of his goals would remind him that this was all just to obtain the love of his friend.

With a deep, confident breath, May continued her way back home, getting ready to have a talk with her brother.

But she was pulled out of her thoughts as she felt something push onto her leg. She looked down and smiled at Gary's Eevee that gleefully hopped up and down on its back legs.

May picked the brown fox up, turning to the direction he was looking, seeing the rest of Gary's team running up with Graveler.

"Hey guys. Having fun?"

They all nodded in agreement, smiling brightly; with the exception of Growlithe who merely walked up to her with a blank expression. Looking at the odd fire dog reminded her of the present she got for him and his Trainer.

She decided to walk back with them, leading them inside the house to feed them some snacks.

While she placed the food around, on, and at the table, she didn't notice Gary sluggishly coming down the stairs; simply watching the scene.

Blastoise was the first one to notice him, smiling and calling out to his Trainer as he sat on the floor.

Gary waved at him, scratching the back of his neck as he walked over to the table. Kadabra and Graveler sat on two of the chairs, so Gary sat on one of the empty seats across from them, placing his elbows on the table and one hand on his cheek.

Eevee, who was on top of the table, picked up one of his treats with his teeth and walked over to Gary, holding it up towards him.

Gary looked at his Pokémon for a moment before taking the small, pink candy and smelling it. It actually smelled pretty good. But when he bit one half of the snack, he grimaced at the taste but forced it down his throat.

"It tastes like crap," Gary muttered as he stuffed the other piece into Eevee's mouth.

Eevee was surprised at first but laughed as he chewed the food. He thought it was delicious!

"Oh, Gary. I didn't notice you come down. Do you want anything to eat?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry. Thanks."

May looked over to her brother for a moment before walking over and sitting next to him. She had to talk to him sooner or later.

"So Gary-"

"I think I like Ash."

May's eyes widened, feeling a little upset that her preplanned conversation was completely thrown out of the window with one five-word sentence.

"Wait, huh?"

Gary looked down at Eevee who brought his plate in front of Gary to eat close to him. As the small fox ate, Gary played with his tail, putting his hands through the smooth, but bushy fur.

"I was up in my room for a while; just thinking. And...I think I like Ash. Like...I'd want to be with him," Gary said, feeling his face heat up at admitting this out loud.

May could only say, "oh," then look away.

"Is it sad that being with someone else really opened my eyes to that?" Gary said, obviously beating himself up about this again.

May looked back at him and said, "Gary we already agreed that that was just something that happened. It's not important."

"It kind of is actually. Because of that, I realized I'm into men. That guy is such a douche though...He tried hitting on Ash this morning."

"You saw him again?"

"By coincidence when I was battling Ash. When he tried to make a move on him, I instantly protected Ash... I thought of him going through the same thing I did and...I got mad. _Really_ mad..."

"...So you wanted to 'protect' him?"

"Hell yeah! That guy didn't even know my name and wanted to get into my pants. I knew what I was doing but Ash would never understand that! At the end though, I had to fake kindness to the guy and now he wants to be with me."

May could only pause then laugh at the situation.

"Why didn't you just beat him up? Like how you used to do it?" May said between chuckles.

"Used to?" Gary said, looking over to his sister.

"Whenever anyone would try to bother you two or even get near you two when you were kids, you'd threaten them. Don't you remember?"

Gary looked down at the table for a moment before nodding. He vaguely remembered being in many fights to protect himself and his friend.

"Well, are you sure it was just to protect him?...Maybe, you didn't want him doing that with someone else, but rather with you."

May expected Gary to quickly retort and disagree, but he sat there, continuing to look at Eevee's tail as he messed with it. After a moment, he shrugged.

"Gary, this isn't something you can just shrug off. You gotta think about it and see whether you truly have feelings for him-"

"I _have_ thought about it, May. The whole time you've been gone, my mind has been on that and...I just don't know."

The two stayed silent after this, both not knowing what to say. A few Pokémon looked up at Gary, completely understanding this conversation but not knowing what to say (if they could say anything). All that could be heard was the sound of the Pokémon eating and chatting amongst themselves.

"He should be coming soon, right? Maybe you can just talk to him. Don't just blurt it out though; just...I dunno. See if you can just tell him."

"What makes you think he'd be interested in me? I acted like a complete douche to him throughout this whole journey...He probably hates me."

"...Well, feelings change. And if you really want to try for him, then you just have to prove to him that you can be a nice person and not just a 'douche'."

Gary scoffed at the reply and sighed, leaning back on his chair and looking up at the ceiling.

"I just don't know if I'm ready to admit something like that, May."

May hesitated, but placed a hand on her brother's shoulder, saying, "well you have time. He'll probably come tomorrow morning and you can talk then."

Gary nervously looked up at the ceiling, wondering if he really would go through with something like this. He wasn't even 100% sure that he liked Ash in that way. But facing him with this new perspective may help him find the answer.

With a nod, Gary sat back up and continued to chat with his sister, telling her about his adventure so far and hoping to find information on the Viridian City's Gym Leader.

* * *

Nighttime soon came and Growlithe watched Gary put all of his Pokémon away into their pokéballs.

Eevee rejected the ball, obviously accustomed to sleeping with Gary. (He also knew that Gary secretly enjoyed sleeping with the small fox rather than alone. But no one would ever say anything about it.)

Gary then turned to Growlithe and was about to tell him to return, but Growlithe took a step back and quickly shook his head; showing that he'd rather sleep outside of the ball tonight.

Gary frowned at the Pokémon before saying, "no, get in here. I barely have room on my bed and I have no carpet."

Growlithe shook his head again. Gary sighed and held the ball towards his Pokémon again, not feeling like dealing with this tonight.

"Hold on Gary!" May quickly said before Gary could tell Growlithe to return.

Growlithe watched as the two talked for a moment then his Trainer's sister ran off. He wasn't one to really pay attention to human conversations, but he knew that whatever she said made Gary give up on trying to put him back in the pokéball.

Growlithe looked up at his Trainer, who now was leaning against the wall next to the stairs to wait for his sister.

The fire dog blankly looked over to Eevee who was already climbing a few stairs. He stopped at the fifth stair and waited for Gary, who turned to him and told him the location of his room.

Eevee nodded and continued up, giving Growlithe a slight sense of envy. Even though he didn't show it too much, he wanted to have a good connection with his Trainer.

May eventually came back with a red stone in her hand.

"A couple of weeks back, I gave a man's Pokémon a massage but he couldn't pay me in money. So instead, he gave me this. I decided to keep it because I wanted to give it to you as a present. I heard they can't evolve unless you use one of these," May said as she held the object out to Gary.

Growlithe's Trainer was obviously interested in this item as his sister gave him the item and he inspected it quite thoroughly. He then looked down at Growlithe and he could only blink back in confusion.

Gary led his Pokémon to the center of the room; an area that was empty and away from the other objects in the house.

The fire dog looked back up at the stone then realized that it had this odd presence to it; as if it was alive. Gary kneeled down on one knee and made complete eye contact with the Pokémon; making Growlithe feel a little nervous.

"Listen, Growlithe. I know you're not stupid, but you're kinda dopey so I need you to pay attention."

Growlithe nodded, forcing himself to try as hard as possible to keep his attention on his Trainer. He has to prove that he can be just as great as the rest of the team! He already proved it by strength, but he wanted to be emotionally connected to Gary too; like Eevee and Blastoise!

"This is a Fire Stone. It'll help you evolve into an Arcanine. Would you want that?"

Growlithe continued to look at his Trainer before looking down at the stone in his hand. That was going to help him become stronger? Why would he reject something like that?

He quickly nodded up to his Trainer, lightly hopping in his sitting position because of a sudden feeling of excitement.

"Good. I wasn't gonna give you the option anyway," his Trainer said before holding the stone out to his Pokémon.

The dog hesitated at first but he placed his hand on the stone, reminding himself that this would be a good change.

In that split second; Growlithe felt the stone under his paw, then suddenly it was gone. A jolt of heat ran through his body and everything began turning white. He felt himself shaking as the heat started from within then moved outside of his body; burning up so much that his body became numb.

After another moment or so, Growlithe blinked multiple times, trying to get the white, that seemed to surround him, out of his eyes. He then realized that he was looking down at Gary rather than up and knew that he had just evolved into an Arcanine.

Gary held out his pokédex to his new Pokémon for a moment before putting it away and sighing. May, on the other hand, ran up next to him, looking up at the Pokémon with astonishment.

"Wow he's huge!"

"Yeah. So now there's really no way for you to sleep outside of your ball."

The brand new Arcanine looked down at his body then turned his head to see his back. He has completely changed and really was huge!

Although he had evolved into something stronger, Arcanine's shoulders went down in defeat; knowing that Gary's remark was true. He'd never be able to sleep next to his Trainer now...

"Anyway, thanks May. This should really help me out. I probably have a better chance with the Gym Leader tomorrow now."

May nodded and walked up to the Arcanine, softly petting him then putting her hands through his fur.

"Oh gosh, he's so soft! Feel him Gary!"

As Arcanine was petted by both Trainer and his sister, Arcanine decided to take a step ahead and leaned his head down to Gary's waist, slowly poking his nose at the pokéballs that were strapped onto the belt he wore.

Gary looked up at him for a moment then grabbed the ball. He sighed and spoke to May a little more before returning Arcanine to his ball.

The large dog felt himself sadden at this. Now that he evolved, he was definitely much stronger, but now he could never sit closely like Eevee always does with him. Wartortle used to do it all the time as well, but once he evolved, Gary simply decided to switch the routine and sit on him instead.

With him, he tried many times to simply be close, but even when he accomplished it, Gary always seemed upset with the gesture. It made him wonder if Gary disliked him more than the rest. Maybe that was the main reason Growlithe was always forced to get into his pokéball...

Before Arcanine could continue to brood himself to sleep, the Pokémon realized that he was out again and in a different location.

They were now in a smaller, darker room with a bed and a dresser and other things that made a room a room.

"I'm just telling you now, sleeping on the floor is gonna be cold."

Arcanine looked over to his Trainer who was walking over to the right side of the bed, climbing onto it and moving next to Eevee. He then realized he was in his Trainer's room.

Gary didn't say another word as he took off his shirt and socks and tossed them to the floor.* He went under the covers and turned away from Arcanine, allowing Eevee to jump into his arms. Gary never held him, but Eevee knew that he subconsciously would once he fell asleep.

Arcanine stood there for a moment then sat down on his floor. He moved as close as he could to the bed then laid down, putting his head down and looking at the wall ahead of himself. Well, at least he was near Gary so that was kind of a start. Still, it wasn't enough to ease Arcanine's sadness.

the odd dog preferred being in his mind rather than reality, so he didn't know how much time passed by. All other sounds were blocked off but at some point, he felt a tap on his head and looked up to find the culprit. He saw Eevee looking down at him with a small smile before he whispered for him to bring his head up.

Arcanine followed his order then noticed that Gary was now lying in his direction; fast asleep. He then felt Eevee grab onto the fur on his cheeks and pull him close, moving his head onto the bed.

The large, fire dog turned his head and looked up to his slumbering Trainer. He looked much nicer when he slept.

Eevee smiled and moved to the end of the bed, curling up into a ball and sleeping on his own. Now, Arcanine wasn't that bright, but he had to wonder if Eevee moved him close to Gary on purpose.

However, the question flew out of his mind as he felt Gary stretch then grab onto him, moving in close and lightly cuddling onto Arcanine. The large dog felt himself blush at this and he softly cuddled back, wondering why his Trainer was so much kinder in his sleep.

He fell asleep to the sound of Gary's slow breathing and tight embrace, curious if his Trainer would push him away in the morning; maybe even get angry at how close they were.

Twenty or so minutes later, Gary was suddenly forced awake by one of Arcanine's soft sneezes as the air hit his chest. He sluggishly moved back a bit to see his Pokémon who was supposed to be lying on the floor, but was instead lying his head next to his. Being too tired to fight against it, Gary moved close again and accepted his Pokémon's warmth. Plus, much like Eevee, Arcanine was extremely comfy to hold onto.

* * *

*SHIRTLESS GARY IS BEST TYPE OF GARY

A.N. Ok so this chapter was originally supposed to be much longer but I wanted to break it off here because of...reasons lol No, but honestly, I like the simple cuteness with this ending. Of course, you could feel nervousness throughout this whole chapter, but it was for a good thing because DING DING Gary finally realized his love for Ash! *does a little dance*

But at the same time I kinda didn't like this chapter. Something about it felt like I was just dragging the scene out too long or like... I dunno, it just felt like it was all worded out weirdly.

Or maybe I've been looking at this for too long and my brain is like "TUU MENY WURDZ"

Lol So! In the next chapter, it will be tomorrow and he will try to talk to Ash about it lol Can you assume how that will turn out?

Actually, now I'm curious :) So I wanna ask: Do you think his confession will be successful? Or will it turn horrible and Ash will reject him and call him disgusting and horrible? Did Vincent actually keep his secret? /:) Lol many many questions (and with these, you can tell why this is so stressful for our Shigeru X3)

Anyway, R&R, tell me about any mistakes, what you think, what you're waiting for, etc etc :) and tell me your favorite part!

Lol mine is when Shigeru was reading their notes and read what he wrote about how he would give Ashy lots of kisses when they get married XD Just rereading that little bit makes my fangirl go wild~ I actually wanna draw a little scene of them as kids being awl kayoot XD

Lol uhm The next chapter should be up fast because I just broke it off of this was and was almost done it anyway. :) It'll be a little short but eh, I'm sure you guys are fine with that. (I hope so! oAo)


	11. Chapter 11

A.N. So I wrote this listening to severely sad music (Michael Giacchino- Lost Soundtrack to be specific) and it made this chapter ten times better and more emotional.

So if you wanna, just put on something that is slow and emotional lol I cried as I wrote X'D

Here we go.

* * *

~Tomorrow Morning~

Gary pulled his hand up to his neighbor's door, hesitating at first, but taking a deep breath and knocking four times.

He looked up into the sky and saw some storm clouds coming.

"Hopefully it won't rain too bad," he thought before looking back at the door.

He played with his bangs, which were now shorter since May cut it earlier this morning, out of nervousness. After a minute or so, the door opened and Gary quickly pulled his hands down and sheepishly smiled up to who he labeled as his second mother.

Delia, in return, brightly smiled and pulled Gary into a tight embrace.

"_Shigeru_! How have you been, honey?" she happily cried out as Gary hugged her back.

"I-I've been fine, Ms. Ketchum."

"Oh, I keep telling you to call me mom! You used to always call me that when you were younger," she replied with a pout as she let go, taking a step back and looking down at the boy who was practically a second son to her.

"I'm not a kid anymore, Ms. Ketchum. And you're not my mom so that would just be weird."

Delia sadly smiled, but understood Gary's argument and dropped the fight. He never really liked being babied anyway.

"So uhm, I was wondering if Ash was here yet."

"Ash? No, he should be coming soon though. Why don't you wait inside? I'd love to talk for just a little while. I mean, if that isn't a bother to you."

Gary looked up at the red haired women, who seemed to radiate a sense of happiness. At first, he wanted to decline the offer and wait outside, but knowing that she must have been quite lonely without her only other family member, he accepted and walked in, Delia practically skipping out of joy as she followed him in.

"I can't stay for too long though. I have to go to Viridian for my final gym battle."

"Viridian? Oh right! I heard that you had to get all seven Badges from Kanto to fight the Gym Leader."

Gary nodded, saying, "yup. I've got ten."

Delia's eyes widened as she sat on her couch; Gary sitting on the couch opposite of the coffee table.

"Ten?! I didn't know there were that many gyms here!" she said, still in shock.

Gary lightly laughed, enjoying the expression she gave him.

"Well, if you look all over, you'd see that we have more than eight. Just gotta look close."

Delia pulled out of her stupor with a smile and a shake of her head.

"You were always the type to check things twice. You're such an intelligent boy, Shigeru. But why don't you want to be a Professor? All these silly Pokémon battles aren't good enough for your intellect."

Gary folded his hands and placed them between his knees, trying finding a simple lie that wouldn't bring too much guilt to himself. He never liked lying to Ms. Ketchum; no matter what the reason was.

"Well I don't want to be kooked up in some lab for the rest of my life. I like learning about Pokémon but I'm more of a hands-on guy," Gary said, noting that this actually wasn't a lie.

"Well how about a Pokémon Researcher then?"

Gary looked up at Delia, giving her a confused look.

"Isn't that the same thing as a Professor?"

"Technically. But a Researcher actually goes out and researches things himself; rather than just staying 'kooked up in some lab.'"

Delia smiled after this and Gary looked down; truly giving that idea a thought. That sounds much better than just being a Professor.

"Your grandfather is a Researcher as well as a Professor, but he doesn't travel as much as he used to. You should ask him about it later! I'm sure you'd enjoy that more than being a Pokémon Champion."

Gary looked back up at Ash's mother and gave her an honest nod, noting that he would talk to his grandfather about it before leaving.

But he was pulled out of his thoughts as he heard a knocking on the door. He actually felt himself jump at this and he turned around as Delia got up, saying "that must be Ash now". Gary was about to abruptly get up, but Ash's mother stopped him, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking into his eyes.

"Gary. Just be honest, ok? I don't know exactly why you're here but...no more lying. And I don't just mean today. Every day; just...be you."

Gary silently watched her as she walked over to the door, feeling shocked that she managed to read him way too easily. As she opened the door and happily greeted her son, Gary shook the feeling away and took a deep breath, standing up straight and fixing his clothes out of habit although they were not improper.

Ash tightly hugged his mother, smiling brightly at her then introducing her to the Gym Leaders that followed him around again. He must have already introduced them because Delia cut him off, remembering such famous Gym Leaders. This made Gary realize that Ash must have seemed to have much more potential than he did if they followed him all through Kanto...

But all those negative thoughts faded away as he watched Ash smile and laugh in joy. He never looked like this when he was around him and he had to admit, Ash was so much cuter when he was happy, rather than angry. Sadly, these instances were scarce and Gary had to take in as much as he could before it went away. Really looking at him now, Gary concluded that he definitely wanted to be with him; to see that smile more. Maybe one day he could cause such a smile.

As Ash walked into the house, he looked over to Gary and his smile faded, showing more confusion and annoyance rather than the joy he had only seconds ago.

"Mom?! What's he doing here?!" Ash yelled out, being overly dramatic as always.

"Ash, I would like you to take Gary up to your room. He wants to speak with you about something very important."

"But-"

"Oh, don't worry about your friends here. Would you two mind coming to the kitchen with me?" she asked Misty and Brock with her sweet smile penetrating any sort of uncomfortable aura this scene was giving off.

"Uhm, Mom. See, about Gary," Delia turned to Ash, giving him a confused look.

"You two haven't been fighting again, have you? I know that you two have been rivals throughout this whole journey, but you're still friends, right?"

Gary looked over to Ash who looked back at him, wondering what to say. Ash was what you would call a 'mama's boy' and truly didn't like getting her upset (as hard as that was). But Gary, being a master of deceiving, knew that Delia was just playing the part so Ash could suck up to her. He quickly wondered if he got his good lying skills from her.

"Uhm...yeah! Of course we are!" Ash said as he laughed a bit and moved to the stairs.

"Ok, good! Now be quick! Gary has to get going soon!" Delia said as she led the Gym Leaders to the kitchen.

But Gary couldn't help to notice a glance that the Cerulean Gym Leader gave to Ash; one of reassurance. Ash gave her the same look then looked over to Gary with a frown. He began walking up the stairs and Gary followed.

He could feel his face burning with nervousness; believing that this was going to be one of the most difficult things he'd have to do in his life.

Gary didn't need to follow Ash as he knew the exact location of his room (and every other room in this house). Once they were in the room, Ash closed the door behind him and walked around Gary, standing in front of him. The brunette took a look around the room and felt a wave of nostalgia run through him. The room hadn't changed much; being quite empty as most of his items were stored in his drawers and closet. The walls were lined with posters of old cartoon shows and some of his favorite bands.

The brunette then turned around and inhaled, getting ready to speak. But Ash managed to beat him before the exhale.

"Before you start anything, I have a few things I need to say to you."

Gary blinked but broke his sentence; changing it to, "ok. What?"

"Firstly, I don't know why you're here and honestly, I kind of don't care. If this is apparently so important, I highly doubt you would come to tell me. Secondly, I've been wanting to tell you how tired I am of your attitude."

Gary opened his mouth to try to interject but Ash quickly stopped him, saying, "no; you shut up! You've had more than half a damn year to tell me how you feel about me so you will wait until I'm done!"

Gary was a taken aback by the outburst. Where did Ash find this sudden confidence? He decided to keep quiet, realizing how serious this was for the smaller Trainer.

"Ever since we started this huge journey, so many people have told me that I am strong, amazing, talented; hell, even handsome. But you know the funny thing? I can't believe any of it. Have you ever heard of that little fact of, if someone tells you enough you'll eventually believe it?"

Ash didn't wait for an answer.

"Yeah, well that happened to me. Every single damn time we met up, you always had something to say and _always_ wanted to take me down. I've been through this whole damn region; beating each person I found. But _no_ _matter_ _what_, I still felt weak. Because whenever I saw you, you reminded me that in the end, you will always be better than me. Every word you would say, every insult you threw at me; it _hurt_, Gary. Yeah, I know I should be able to handle insults, but I can't handle it if that's all that ever comes out of your damn mouth! I can't take this anymore Gary! I can't take you being such a freakin' dick all of the time!"

Gary tried to keep a stoic expression on, feeling his heart breaking with every word. He just wanted to apologize and explain all of this; tell Ash that he had a reason for this and it was just to help him! But he knew Ash would get even more frustrated if he tried to cut him off.

The smaller boy took a moment to breath then continued.

"And I know I might sound weaker and girly because I'm telling you how I feel, but it's not. I needed to say this. I wanted to just punch the hell out of you but that wouldn't have solved anything..."

Ash looked away for a moment, his face red with anger. Emotion was always hard for him to express because he had so much of it that never stopped pouring out. Gary was actually a little amazed that he wasn't crying yet. Not that that would make him think any lower of Ash.

Still, Gary didn't know that his insults had hit so deeply. They became so natural to throw at him that the brunette thought his rival would eventually get used to it.

"So... with that being said, I don't want to see you anymore," Ash stated, looking up at Gary with an extremely serious expression.

Gary's eyes widened, a chill of fear running down his back.

"Wait...what?"

"I don't want to see you. After this little conversation, I don't want you getting near me, talking to me, passing by me; just _stay_, _the hell, away from me_. I don't know if you're '_man_' enough to accept that, but trust me, I will just pretend you're not even there because you are not worth my damn time anymore. I know I'm weaker than you and always will be; I know I'm not 'as attractive' as you or 'as amazing'. But, hell, at least I have a heart."

Silence consumed the room as Ash seemed to have finished what he wanted to say. Gary could only look down at his rival's shirt; feeling too hurt to even look him in the eyes. To go as far as saying he had no _heart_. Gary definitely went too far because as heartless as he acted, it still hurt for someone to say that; especially the person who he wanted to be with.

For so long, all he wanted to do was help and it took him this long to realize that he only made things worse. Gary felt his eyes beginning to lightly swell, his body desiring to show the emotion that he desperately wanted to express.

What could he say? There was no way he could tell Ash how he feels now. And trying to explain why he did this to begin with will just confuse the boy and think that Gary is lying.

"So what's the last thing you're gonna tell me?" Ash said, now sounding more sad then angry. So this was hurting him too?

Gary finally looked up at Ash, who was looking down at his shirt. He opened his mouth a few times, still contemplating what to say, but shut it when nothing could form. The only thing that was going through his mind was what Delia told him earlier: just be honest. And he could be to a certain extent. So he did.

"You...are strong."

Ash instantly looked up at this, looking confused.

"And...brave and... so much more amazing than you realize."

Ash didn't reply but stood up straight, keeping his full attention on the taller Trainer.

"You can be a little annoying sometimes, but that just makes you you and it's endurable because...the rest of your personality is so worth it. And, don't even bring up the whole attractive thing because you are handsome. It's weird coming from me, but I know for a fact you are an attractive guy... And _strong_. Every time we battled, I noticed that you continued to get better. That, you made new strategies; ones that I never thought of, including things that just seem impossible...and you manage to do them without a second thought as if it was easy."

Ash's confusion began to grow but Gary could see that this was really affecting him. The boy's eyes lightly watered but he would take calming breaths to keep himself stable. Gary, on the other hand, saw his vision getting a little blurry. He knew honesty was a strong emotion. That was why he always avoided it. And letting it all out now felt as if it was all just too much.

"I'm just...I'm sorry for hurting you. I'm sorry...I'm a compulsive liar and didn't get what I was doing until I went too far. I thought I was right but-," Gary cut himself off, clearing his throat as he felt it choking up.

He rubbed his eyes with his fingers, trying to make it seem that he was just trying to rub the sleepiness out of his eyes but Ash could tell he was removing the tears before they attempted to stain his face. Still, something was bothering the blackette and he had to ask.

"Gary...why did you come here?"

It only made sense that he wasn't going to apologize off the back as that was a reply to what he was going to say.

Gary chuckled, putting his head down and shaking it, murmuring, "I-I don't know. I forgot, I guess."

"No; tell me."

But Gary kept quiet and that only frustrated Ash more.

"You know that's your problem. You keep trying to fight on your own; without anyone helping you. But you're gonna lose at some point because everyone will be against you and you'll have absolutely no one to call for help...So just tell me."

Gary sniffed and forced himself to look up at Ash, hating the fact that his eyes were probably red from irritation. He realized that, in a sense, he had just been rejected, and that hurt more than anything. The one time he decided it was time to come out and express himself was far too late. And he only had himself to blame for that.

So with the energy he had left, Gary forced up a smile and said, "good luck. I came to say good luck. You're...very powerful and I know the next time we are ever forced into battle, it will be difficult and fantastic..."

With that, Gary turned and walked to the door, opening it to get ready to run again. It was as if that was all he was good at doing; running from his problems.

But oddly enough, something told him to stop. He had to do something before he left; even if it was absurd or illogical, he simply had to do it.

So he turned back to Ash, who hadn't moved from his place and was sadly watching him. He walked up to the boy and took off his hat, throwing it to the side.

"Gary...?" Ash asked.

But Gary ignored the comment as he looked down at him. He brought his hands up and held both sides of Ash's face, causing the boy's eyes to widen. Ash looked shocked, but he didn't move or force himself away.

Slowly, Gary brought his lips to the boy's forehead and kissed him, holding it there as if all the love in his heart was pouring out of this one action. Ash didn't move, but Gary could feel him as he placed his hands on his, lightly gripping onto them.

Excluding his family, Gary never expressed such a gesture to someone and never planned to. Yet, this one kiss felt necessary and Gary knew he had to do this. He had no definite answer as to why, but in a way, it felt as if this one thing could somehow heal all the wounds he placed onto his friend. And he hoped to Arceus that it meant something.

Hopefully, Ash will see how much love he was expressing and would understand Gary's feelings, but Gary knew that that was illogical and wouldn't happen; no matter how hard he begged for it.

He eventually pulled away, and gulped, knowing that this might be the last time he could connect with his old friend.

"I didn't mean any of it...Promise," the brunette whispered as he looked down, keeping his eyes shut.

After another moment, Gary opened his eyes and stepped back, sliding his hands off of his rival's face. He could see confusion in those burnt sienna eyes, but Ash merely took a shakey breath and looked away, biting his bottom lip. It was like looking into a mirror, with the way Ash hid his emotions.

After another silent moment, Ash finally said, "goodbye, Shigeru."

The use of that name brought a deep pain in Gary's chest. He was amazed that he had the ability to reply.

"...Goodbye, Satoshi. Good luck."

Ash didn't reply or look at him, so Gary nodded and turned around, walking out of the door and shutting it behind him.

As he grabbed his things that were on the couch and went past the living room, he could see Delia in the kitchen from his peripheral vision. She turned to him and was getting up, but that didn't stop Gary from making a beeline to the door.

When he put his hand on the door knob, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was soft and subtle; no sense of urgency or strength laced into it. The hand stayed there, as if instantly knowing that he needed this comfort.

"Were you honest?" Gary heard Delia whisper from behind him.

Gary gulped but nodded.

No response came in return and Gary somehow felt as if she was trying to understand him. And as if she could read his mind, Delia pulled him into a soft embrace from behind, kissing his head and telling him, "it's ok," as if she was his actual mother.

He stood there, feeling astounded that this woman knew how to break through every barrier he ever pulled up, as if she knew exactly how he felt. It made him wonder if she ever went through heartbreak...

Either way, she forced his tears to fall as she held on a little tighter. After a moment, he placed his hand on her arm, saying, "I gotta go."

Delia wanted to argue about it, but nodded, knowing that there was nothing she could do. If he really was honest, then whatever happened was the best that he could do; nothing more, nothing less.

"Ok. Be careful," she said with a soft smile as she let go.

Gary nodded, took a deep breath, and opened the door. He ignored the rain that came drizzling down and called out Arcanine, telling him to kneel down so he could climb onto his back. Arcanine instantly did as he was told, overjoyed that Gary was asking for help other than in battle.

Once Gary was on, he asked Arcanine if he knew his way to Viridian City. The dog took a moment to think but shook his head, unfamiliar with this terrain.

The boy sniffed and shook his head, saying, "just keep running this direction. I'll tell you where to go. But don't stop running, just...run."

Arcanine looked back at him for a moment, finally realizing how red his eyes were. But by the way he looked, Arcanine could tell that it was better to just listen.

So the large fire dog ran through the soft rain, enjoying the feeling although he found it odd that it wasn't hurting him.

As Arcanine ran, Gary held onto his fur and watched the scenery pass by. He passed by his grandfather's lab, reminding him that he had said goodbye to his sister this morning, but not to Gramps. Once they passed by it, Gary deeply sighed and buried his face in Arcanine's fur, saying to himself, "I fucked this all up...I ruined everything."

After a while, the fur began tickling his running nose and Gary pulled his face back up, looking around to realize they were at the edge of town. He looked up at the dark clouds above, letting his tears secretly fall with the drops of rain.

Who was he kidding? Confessing something like that was just a horrible idea. Trying to help to begin with was just a horrible idea. Maybe butting out would have been the best thing to do from the start.

However, realizing that he was too deep in to run, Gary continued his way to Viridian; still striving to become the Champion. If not for Satoshi anymore, it would be for himself; to prove that he could do _something_ without giving up halfway.

An hour or so running through the rain made Gary's emotions copy the feeling, as he became cold and retracted his feelings. Although he was going to hide the feelings he had for Satoshi, he still wanted to make a change and become more honest; starting now.

So attempting to fix himself up, Gary took deep breaths and watched as the city soon came into view.

Because of the odd changes in weather depending on location, Viridian City was only getting a faint drizzle, so before heading straight inside the gym, Gary waited outside for his clothes and hair to dry.

He leaned against the wall of the gym, making sure his mind was clear.

He had tried to look up information on this gym leader, but all he could obtain was that the gym was apparently a complicated puzzle in itself and that the leader had no preferred type.

He knew that this battle would most likely run smoothly, like all the rest, but he still had to mentally prepare. Maybe a good, difficult fight would clear his mind.

* * *

"Sir, he's finally here," the Team Rocket member said as he brought up a camera of the entrance.

The leader of the gym looked into the camera, watching Shigeru as he stood against a wall, thinking. A large, disturbing smile stretched across his face. He remembered when this boy oh so easily broke into his facility and took out more than half of his members without breaking a sweat. Then to top it off, he allowed another weaker Trainer to finish the job and even beat the leader himself.

"Good. Prepare the gym for his arrival."

"Shall we do an 'opening ceremony' for him, sir?"

"That is not needed. With my new toy, I'll give him all the entertainment he needs," the leader hissed out as he turned his chair around and looked at the capsule that contained his priced possession and most powerful weapon.

* * *

A.N. SO, lol this actually came out better than expected. Like, honestly, I was planning on adding a physical fight, yelling, and crying, etc etc lol but I was like no, I've been giving Shigeru way too much physical damage. He needs some emotional pain lol

Ok to explain a bit about that. I felt like...ok yeah, Shigeru has been through a crapload of stuff, a bunch of pain, so you'd think the writer would show some pity right? But I'm also thinking, Ash doesn't know about ANY of this. He just thought Gary was a major douche who just wanted to hurt him (keyword: thought).

So at some point, I imagined Ash just feeling so depressed about that and maybe Misty noticed this and talked to him about it? Told him "You need to tell that boy that he needs to stahp!" lol I dunno.

But back to subject, I felt as if this all was still...'imaginary' for Gary. Like, although all of this happened, he still hasn't fully taken it in.

So when Ash finally told him "I'm gettin real tired of your shiz man", something in him just made him realize that absolutely everything he had done was for naught. Lol I get the feeling you guys are gonna hate me for this.

BUT! If it makes anyone feel better, think about when Gary gave him that kiss and the way Ash looked and acted. That's actually very important in its own way.

I also enjoyed that a lot more than a kiss on the lips. I was originally planning that, but then I thought about how much Gary cares about him and everything he did for him.

That emotion of just severe protection made a kiss on the head more appropriate because I believe that a kiss on the head isn't about how much you physically love someone, but that you desire protection for them.

Like...(lol so hard to explain) ok, I thought of when children get hurt and the mother kisses that area. It may not do anything physically, but the sheer fact that someone who loves you is showing affection in your time of need somehow makes the boo boo feel better. (hell, it worked for me XD) Lol does that make sense for this argument? Lol I hope so.

Well, on a more important note (I guess), I will not be updating the next chapter for two reasons:

1) There is some research I am doing for the next chappy that involves me finishing a whole damn game lol So I need to do that.

and 2) I obviously need to rewatch this episode (Battle of the Badge I think?) and a few more afterwards that are important to the next couple of chapters. Gotta get mah notes and stuff, you know? lol So yeah, I apologize but that's what I gotta do XD It'll be worth it, PROMISE! (Especially because I'm planning a super crazy plot twist that is just like YES cuz it's awesome...)

Lol Ok then Please R&R! Tell me what you thought about the whole 'rejection' thing (I didn't think of it that way really but dude, if I was about to confess and the person said "I DON'T WANNA SEE YOU ANYMORE", I'd feel super emo too lol), anything you liked and/or hated about this chapter :) Stupid grammar mistakes lol

I actually think it was really short because so little happened, you know? But it's honestly as far as I need to go. The next few chapters are gonna be so AWESUM. I can't wait to write them X3


	12. Chapter 12

A.N. NOTE: so I rewatched Battle of the Badge and realized that a year actually passed around this time (in the english dub). So I'm gonna change that in the last chappy in a bit but yeah, a year passed so I guess I can make them a year older.

Which means Shigeru and Satoshi are now 16!

Also, I'm not even gonna lie, I completely forgot about Wartortle's crack in his shell. So I'm just gonna make it that when he evolved, it made it harder to see but it's still there like a scar. (BATTLE SCARRRSSSS)

Ok so work is taking a small break as of now and I'm inspired (because of certain people who will not be named XD), but thank you for everyone's reviews and thoughts!

(ALSO, when Shigeru goes into the Gym, you can actually take out an old map of the first Generation's Viridian Gym and follow it like that, just in case it gets confusing or something. I'm literally 100% going by that old map and it will be easier to read and understand if you just give it a good look. But when he reaches Giovanni, it's gonna be like the Viridian Gym in the show, if you can remember. So yeah.)

(ALSO ALSO, I don't remember if I brought this up before but I made Gary's Eevee male instead of female lol honestly it was because I was going with the game so much and his Eevee was male in there. So yeah, sorry for the mix up I guess? It's a fanfic so just roll with it :3)

But ok then, here we Goooooooo

* * *

"...Goodbye, Satoshi. Good luck," Gary said.

Ash chose to not look at him as he felt way too frustrated to attempt to understand what was going through that idiot's mind.

He heard his rival leave then looked down to the ground, wondering why this was bothering him so much.

Before he had too much time to think, he noticed Pikachu run into the room, looking up at him in confusion then concern. Ash quickly rubbed his eyes, clearing his throat to make sure his voice wouldn't crack.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I did it though," Ash said as he looked down at his electric Pokémon.

"Satoshi?"

Ash looked up as Misty and Brock stood at the door, both giving him a look of concern; much like Pikachu. With a sigh, Ash allowed them in and leaned against the wall, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I did like you said, Misty. I told him how much he was hurting me...then I told him that I didn't want to see him again."

Misty softly sighed but knew this was for the best. Still, she could see that this made Ash upset.

"How did he take it?" she asked.

Ash lightly laughed, shaking his head and passing his hand down his face.

"He...complimented me! I just don't get him! H-he tells me that he doesn't need me first, then he says he could never hate me, then he acts like a complete jerk again! _And then_ back at Cinnabar he protected me from some guy."

"Some guy?"

"And _now_, he-" Ash cut off, feeling his throat beginning to choke up. He didn't like crying in front of people, but he couldn't help being so emotional. That's just who he was.

"What?" Misty asked as she took a step forward, cradling her Togepi onto her chest.

Ash looked up at her, seeing the worry and kindness in this Gym Leader's eyes. She wasn't trying to pry into his life or anything. She just wanted to talk to Ash to see what was making him so upset. She had always tried to do that, but Ash had a tendency of simply saying that everything was alright; mainly when it came to problems that were close to his heart.

Ash paused and took off his hat, placing it on his desk then ruffling up his hair out of frustration. That was when he noticed Pikachu pulling at his pant leg, desiring to climb up onto his shoulder. Ash bent down and put his arm down, letting the electric mouse quickly climb up and perch onto him.

Keeping his eyes on Pikachu's foot, which he played with to keep himself from overreacting, he softly replied, "he... said everything I wanted to hear...He said...that I'm great and strong. He even went as far as to call me _handsome_."

Ash laughed at that and shook his head, knowing that he said that because Ash admitted to him that he didn't like his appearance. But at the same time, that still brought up the main problem.

"I didn't tell him, but when he said that I felt so happy...but I don't get him. Why would he say all those horrible things for a whole damn year and then suddenly be nice? I just don't understand," Ash said as he looked back at his two friends. However, instead of looking sad or pitiful as he expected, they looked surprised.

The two exchanged glances, seeming to converse without saying a word. They had a tendency to do that and labeled it as "something adults do".

"You don't think..." Misty said, finishing the sentence with a glance at Brock.

"For this long? Do you think he'd really...?"

"Hey, what are you two talking about?" Ash said, disliking when they did things like this, especially when he was in such a sour mood.

"Satoshi, what else did he say...?" Misty asked, having an odd expression on her face that Ash couldn't describe.

He gave her a confused look then looked down at his carpet, trying to remember his exact words.

"He apologized. He said...that he was a 'compulsive liar' and didn't know what he was doing until he went too far. Apparently being a douche was helping me. I have no idea how that works though."

"Oh my goodness..."

Ash looked up at her again, seeing that she now was covering her mouth as some sort of realization hit her.

"I can't believe that," Brock said, shaking his head and beginning to laugh.

"I never though he would be someone to do something like this..." Misty stated with a sad smile.

"Why did you tell him to leave after he said all those kind things to you?" Misty quickly asked, seeming slightly upset with him.

Ash was taken aback and frowned at her, replying, "did you guys forget everything that he's done all this year? He pisses me off and confuses me! Why should I keep a friend who acts mean but thinks he's being nice?!"

"But he understands what he did was wrong now!"

"What the hell does that matter? So he knows that he's a bastard. That doesn't change the fact that he still is one!"

"He's probably too young to get it," Brock said, looking down on him as if he was a child. Ash truly hated when they did that.

"C'mon, I hate it when you guys do that! What is it? What do you know?"

Misty opened her mouth but shut it, not knowing how to say this. But Ash already felt as if he hit his boiling point and yelled out, "well?!"

"Satoshi, Shigeru loves you."

Out of everything Misty could have said, this was the last thing Ash had expected.

"_What_?! Loves me?!" he yelled out as his face suddenly began to heat up.

"Before you completely freak out, I want you to think about this, Satoshi! He said he was a compulsive liar. He apologized for everything that he's done and said positive things about you."

Ash stayed quiet, giving Misty a confused look. This didn't add up to him.

Misty roughly sighed and straightened her shoulders, getting easily frustrated at Ash's ignorance.

"He didn't know what he was doing until he went too far! Satoshi! He's been in love with you all of this time!"

"Don't you think that assumption is a little deep? You can't just say that! You have no proof!"

"What's going on up here?"

Everyone abruptly turned to see Delia by the door, cocking an eyebrow at the group.

"I heard people yelling. What's wrong?"

"Ms. Ketchum, you have perfect timing! We need your help explaining something to Satoshi and I don't think we have the ability to really get it through his head," Misty said as she walked up to Ash's mother.

Ash watched the three in confusion then looked over to Pikachu who was looking down in thought. Was he trying to get this as well?

Gary? Loving him? Since when? How could acting the way he did throughout this whole journey be considered loving? ...But he was lying, right? So...did he always mean the opposite? Of course there were those times, like when he tightly hugged him in Lavender Town and back in Cinnabar when he defended him, but although they were kind gestures they still didn't make sense to Ash.

When that rival of his wanted to attack him with words, he sure was great at it. But whenever Ash seemed to have a problem, Gary was instantly there to fight for him. It made him wonder if it was one of those 'only I can mess with him' type of situations. If it was that, he would definitely want to hit him for that.

"Ash,"

Ash broke out of his concentration as his mother called out to him with a soft smile. She walked into his room and sat on his bed, softly patting the blanket next to her.

As he sat down next to his mother, Delia said with her soft and kind voice, "we need to talk, dear. About Gary."

"But mom, I don't think he likes me like that."

"No, I don't mean that. I think you need a good "memory refreshment" about before your journey."

* * *

Gary jolted awake as he heard a rumbling sound. He quickly turned to see the doors of the gym slowly opening, revealing nothing but darkness in the inside.

When had he fallen to sleep? Checking his watch, he realized he had only been out for around an hour or so. He assumed the stress of this morning just got to him and he needed a bit of rest.

This was when he realized that he was lying on something furry. It didn't take him much to realize that it was Arcanine, as he grew to remember the dog's scent. Arcanine was looking at the opening doors as well, seeming to be in full alert.

"Hey, it's ok. I'm up," Gary said as he stood up then stretched. He rubbed his eyes, noting how swollen they felt. In a way, he was happy to let those tears out. With an event like that, if he held his emotions in, he was sure that that would truly break him apart.

Patting his cheeks and taking a deep breath, Gary recalled Arcanine and walked into the gym, expecting some sort of light to eventually turn on. He never was really into flashy gyms, but it didn't matter. First he wanted to see this puzzle that was apparently so difficult.

The doors shut on their own and Gary had to squint to try to see anything. At the front were the two usual statues in every gym, but there was no guy there to give you water like he always does. (Gary always found that irrelevant. Why give the Trainer a bottle of water? He's heard the excuse that you could use it during battle, but how would you give it to them and have enough time to jump back into battle? And even if you just give the bottle to the Pokémon, they'd have to find a way to quickly drink some and not get attacked. He tried this once during practice and his Pokémon got a cramp. Potions, however, didn't seem to harm them. Altogether, that guy was only useful when he told you info on the leader. That was about it).

To his left was a long hallway and there was one ahead, past the statues. He could only assume he had to go this way. But as he began walking, he noticed that the hall led to other smaller halls. It was confusing and beginning to creep Gary out as the lighting was quite dim. Not to mention that it was completely silent. Was the gym even open?

As he moved to go to the hall at the furthest right, Gary felt his foot abruptly pulled forward. He managed to take it back and hold himself against the wall as he tried to see what made him almost trip. That was when he realized that he had seen this type of technology before. It was back in Silph Co. with Team Rocket's hideout. What were they doing here in Viridian?

He decided to concoct a plan on what he should do, but as he was about to begin a thought process, he heard a click that reverberated around him. Then on every wall, a big, red, digital timer suddenly appeared and began counting down from 20 minutes.

Gary gave the timer a confused look but jumped when he heard something moving on the ceiling. Or rather, it sounded like something was coming down from the ceiling, but he had no way to tell as it was too dark to even see it.

That was when the boy quickly called out his Pidgeot, asking her to check what was up there.

"But be careful, alright?" he quickly added.

The large bird gave him a quick nod and flew up into the darkness, taking her time once she was deep in it. Gary watched as she soon went out of sight, but followed the sound of her wings flapping.

After a minute or so, he heard a sudden squawk come from his bird and quick flapping. Before he could ask what was happening, he saw her diving back down to the ground in a panic. Only using her name, Pidgeot tried to describe something that was coming down from the ceiling but Gary had no idea what she was explaining.

"Use your wings or something, c'mon!" he quickly yelled out.

Pidgeot paused and thought for a moment before putting one wing up and the other down, horizontally. As her top wing slowly went down, Gary realized what she meant.

"The ceiling is moving down?"

At that, Pidgeot shook her head and tried to point her feathers downward.

"Like, _spikes_?!"

Pidgeot quickly nodded.

"Arceus, are you kidding me?!" Gary yelled out as he looked around which hallway to choose.

Not really thinking it through, Gary chose the hall in the furthest right, looking down at the panel that always shot him across rooms and hallways. He took a few steps back and got ready to jump, as he had a tactic to these things. He loathed the way these things liked to spin you around so instead of just walking onto them, Gary found out that it was easier to run and jump because the pull would make it feel as if you are just taking a very large jump to the other side; without all those spins.

So after a quick run, Gary jumped over the panel and felt the odd sensation these things gave to you as it shot him towards the other side of the hall; Pidgeot following from above. He already knew a wall was there so he put out his arms just in time so he wouldn't slam onto it fast first. However, the panel which was going to stop him was right before the wall so instead of hitting the wall, his hands helped him land onto the floor.

But he had no time to think as the panel in front of him was another moving one, which pulled his arms to a hallway to the left. His whole body was eventually pulled in that direction and Gary watched as an enormous statue came towards him.

Quickly keeping his arms outstretched, Gary pressed his hands against the stone and allowed them to bend, managing to slow down the speed. But his head still hit the statue.

Groaning, Gary got up and rubbed his head, looking up at the odd statue. It looked just like a person but its head was hidden in the darkness from above. It blocked that whole side, making it practically impossible to pass by it because directly to his left was a panel on the ground that would send him back. The statue was facing to the left, down another hall.

Remembering he was on a timer, Gary, trying to be slick, pressed his body against the statue and tried to move around it, hopefully being able to just pass this one obstacle. But there simply wasn't enough room as the panel managed to capture his back and pulled him back to where he was. He fell onto his bottom and lightly slid back onto another panel, which shot him all the way back to the beginning.

Cursing loudly, Gary decided to take another corridor, quickly inspecting each one. He also noted that this little mess up wasted about 5 minutes.

The two halls to the farthest left both had different panels on the ground while the one to the left of the first passage he took was empty. He decided to run through that one but paused when he found more statues.

Although it was dark, he could easily see the silhouette of a man. And not the type of artistic statue you'd see in a museum. It was as if they took the figure of an average guy and made a statue of him. Gary couldn't help but get an uneasy feeling from these things. All of their heads were also invisible to him; hidden in the vast darkness up above. It gave him a childish thought of whether they were watching him or not.

Luckily, there was another hall that kept away from the statues glances and Gary quickly ran in that direction as his thoughts couldn't help but to make him feel more nervous than necessary. However, once he looked over into the next hall to his left, another large statue awaited but instead of keeping still, it suddenly began to move toward him.

Gary instantly began to panic and continued to run forward, reaching the wall and turning to see if the statue continued to follow him. However, it only slid forward and stopped at the location Gary stood and stopped.

"Well that's freaky as hell..." he murmured as he ran into the hall that the statue seemed to have guarded.

Before moving forward, Gary noticed a large statue at the opposite end of the hall; inside another hall that intersected with this one. Taking a quick breath, Gary attempted to sprint forward and run around it, but the statue noticed him quickly and managed to get in his way before he could pass.

The statue continued to move forward, practically pushing him back. Gary had no choice except to run back into the last hall. The statue stopped at the end of the hall, making it impossible to get back into. But looking at the statue from this angle, Gary noticed that it was the first one he bumped into earlier. Therefore, the path should be clear now!

Running back to the beginning, the brunette jumped his way across the first moving panels, remembering the way it made an abrupt turn and maneuvering himself to make another leap to the left. Landing on the panel that stopped him, Gary looked forward then ran ahead, looking into the hall to his left and confirming that this was the statue that moved from before. And he had 13 minutes to spare!

Suddenly feeling optimistic, Gary ran down the hall and saw the bright light of another room to his left that he assumed he was going into. But as he was about to run into the hall to continue forward, another statue suddenly got in his way and blocked the path.

Feeling way too desperate, Gary tried to jump onto the statue and climb around it or on top of it, but it was way too smooth to really grab.

Now looking up, Gary felt a chill run down his body as he was finally able to see the points of the spikes from above. Trying to cheat the game, Gary asked Pidgeot to try and fly him over, but the statue was too tall as its head was practically aligned with the tips of the spikes. Even its shoulders were too thick for him by himself to go by. Why did this statue have to be so much bigger than the rest?! It was as if someone knew that this was going to happen and planned this before hand.

Still, Gary managed to get a glimpse of the other side of the statue and noticed another hall that could lead to the exit.

Cursing under his breath, Gary told Pidgeot to take him down, fly back to the beginning by herself and take another corridor to find the exit. She was hesitant at first but flew off, Gary running behind her.

Once he reached the beginning, she was out of sight which inadvertently brought Gary into a larger state of panic. The spikes slowly moving down seriously didn't help either. He impatiently waited for the bird, hoping that she could at least tell him which path wasn't the right way, and after a minute or so, he saw her suddenly appear from the right hallway of the left hand side, flying back over to him in a quicker speed as the panels also affected her.

Before he could ask, Pidgeot grabbed him by his shirt collar and tried to fly him through the leftmost hallway, but the panels on the ground still affected him and he continuously was being pulled to the ground. Pidgeot's only solution was to release him and let him slide over, which was much slower than her simply flying by it all.

"It's fine, I can just follow you. Keep going!" Gary quickly called out as he saw the end of the hall and it turning to the right.

Ignoring another large statue, Gary turned and ran into the hall to the right, jumping over another moving panel and landing perfectly onto the one that stops him. Another large statue came his way and Gary simply moved around it, noticing that he could dodge the next moving panel and simply run in on his own.

Halfway through the hall, he noticed his Pidgeot in an intersecting hall, beckoning him to follow. Gary listened and ran through, noticing a bright light coming from the left hall up ahead. But before he could really get his spirits up, he noticed the timers on the walls begin to flicker and lose its place of 11 minutes. He watched it as it completely disappeared then changed to 4 minutes, causing the spikes to abruptly drop down.

In a panic, Pidgeot dropped over Gary, hoping to protect him, but the spikes stopped right before they could touch her. The boy then ran as fast as he could while bending down, making sure his large bird had enough room to fly over him.

Ramming into the wall, Gary turned to see the last hall that finally led to the exit. However, it looked way too far ahead and Gary had no idea if he had enough stamina to make it.* But the thought was pushed aside as survival mode kicked into him, causing him to sprint into that direction.

Pidgeot followed over head and felt the tips of the spikes brushing over the feathers of her wings, making it harder and harder to flap them. She could tell that he would never make it and pulled back for a moment, flying lower and grabbing onto his collar again.

Flying at full speed, she managed to get close enough to toss him and decided to do a quick spin and throw him out. Gary managed to figure out her plan a few seconds before hand and pulled out his pokeball, looking back and catching her before the spikes could even touch her.

Once he hit the ground, he pulled himself away from the entrance, watching as the spikes continued to move down. It amazed him that they managed to fit in such a small space to begin with.

Taking a quick look around, Gary noticed that he was now in the actual gym to battle the leader. Once making sure that he was completely safe, he fell onto his back and pressed the pokeball tightly against his chest, panting and thankful that they both had enough time to make it out.

After this whole mess, he planned on giving Pidgeot the worst scolding he'd ever given her...then probably hug her after. Stupid bird trying to be heroic. Gary knew that if he lost another Pokémon he wouldn't be able to handle it. He was amazed that he could already handle two.

"I see you passed the maze! Very good job, Shigeru."

The voice made Gary jump and turn towards it, seeing a figure of a man on a high balcony. A bright light was shining behind him, making it impossible to see his face. He did manage to see a Pokémon next to him, and by its figure, he assumed that it was a Persian; a somewhat rare Pokémon in this region.

"But I doubt I will let you make it out of this gym alive..."

Gary froze, sitting up and staring at the man. Many times he had been threatened to be beaten. Many times he had been in life threatening situations. But this was the first time that someone directly told him that they were planning to take his life.

Silently, Gary stood up, remembering why he was there and what he could do. He managed to pull Pidgeot's pokeball away from his chest and place it on his belt with the rest. He walked forward, getting close enough to the balcony where he could talk to the man yet still be able to see him. With a deep breath, he began to speak.

"I am Shigeru Gary Oak from Pallet Town. I've come for the Earth Badge to enter into the Pokémon League."

The shrouded man pressed his elbow on the armrest of the chair he was sitting in, placing his head onto his hand.

"I know what you're here for, Shigeru. But I'm sure that you knew that it would not be that easy once you realized that Team Rocket owned this Gym."

Gary frowned at the man but kept silent for a moment. After the silence became too thick, he decided to ask some questions before declaring for a bet. Hopefully, he could make it out of here with no one getting harmed.

"Are you...the leader of Team Rocket?"

The man took a moment to answer. He sat up and replied, "yes I am. My name is Giovanni. Make sure you remember that name as it is the last one you will have to memorize."

This death threat lightly frustrated Gary, but he knew in situations like these it was best to stay calm.

"Why do you want to kill me? I'm no one."

"It's a good thing too. It's much easier to get away with someone's death when they are 'no one'."

Gary disliked the way this man spoke so easily about this. As if murdering someone was a daily event.

"Do not misunderstand, I do not kill the innocent unless necessary. You are not innocent. You have done something to me."

"What? ...I haven't done anything to you. This is the first time we've met."

"Don't play dumb. I hate when people lie to me and I especially loathe when people play innocent."

Gary gave no reply but thought back on what he could've done to Team Rocket. The only thing he could remember was fighting some of the grunts over in Silph Co. But it's not like he actually brought the whole place down. He simply...

Gary's eyes widened when he found the answer. Giovanni simply stayed quiet, looking down at him.

"I weakened your team."

"Good."

"...Enough for others to manage to bring you down."

"I'm glad you're not a complete fool!"

"But I barely did anything! All I did was fight some men! If anything, Ash was the one who-" but Gary cut himself off, not wanting to bring him into this.

"Yes, that horrible child who managed to bring me down...I almost killed him you know. But that Pikachu of his managed to stop me before I could shoot him... The point is that because of your assistance, that boy brought me down at a severely important moment... I'm not stupid, Shigeru. I know you are much stronger than that boy, but you were _horrible_ enough to not even fight me and let some second rate Trainer finish me off. And I thought I was the evil one."

Giovanni laughed out loud, not in any way sounding happy about this. It made Gary nervous.

"I'm not evil for wanting to help take down a major corporation that strives to steal Pokémon."

"Of course not, Shigeru. But you are evil for many other things."

Gary gave the man a confused glare and replied, "name them!"

"...Ever since you brought me down in Silph Co., I've looked up everything about your life, from your birth until now. You haven't been the nicest person in the world, you know. From the beginning, you've done nothing but overwork your Pokémon, ride around with older women, and hurt others."

Gary's eyes widened in shock at the way his journey was worded out.

"What? That's not true! You're misunderstanding!"

"You even molested a woman while on the S.S. Anne."

"No, you're wrong!"

"And let's not forget your poor, poor Raticate."

Gary felt his body freeze, still not too comfortable with bringing up this subject.

"The way you abandoned it. I have to admit though, it was smart of you to leave him in the Rock Tunnel before it collapsed. But that was not enough to cover up your crimes."

"It's not...like that," Gary managed to say, knowing that he still felt guilty on the whole situation.

"Then there was the other story of a little girl's Lucario,"

"That's enough."

"Murdering a poor Pokémon who was just trying to help,"

"I said that's enough!"

"All to find your _little boyfriend_."

Gary paused once again, looking up to Giovanni with shocked eyes. How did he know so much about him? Until only yesterday, he never admitted his feelings about this to anyone.

"And you did find him. It stopped you from staying with those cougars of yours but that didn't stop you from cheating on him with another man...Surely you didn't think I wasn't watching you from that hotel you stayed in over at Cinnabar. You truly are disgustingly evil."

At that, Gary felt his face heat up in embarrassment. He simply had no idea what to say to this man. No comeback could compare to how much dirt he had on him at the moment. Any story could easily be taken into a different perspective and used against him. Just what was Giovanni planning?

Hesitantly, Gary asked, "what do you want?"

This question seemed to please Giovanni as he sat up straight, placing one knee over the other and his hands on his top.

"You have...a few options. You could...join me; as your strength can definitely take you far in this group. Not to mention that you are such an epitome of evil...You remind me of me, as a boy, actually."

The boy glared at Giovanni, faintly able to see that this reaction was pleasing the man.

"Then there are are a few other options, all that lead to death. But we can get to those in a moment. Let's discuss the arrangements of you joining Team Rocket."

"Why the hell would I do that? No matter what, you have a grudge against me." Gary spat back.

"I never said I wouldn't take my revenge. No matter the choice, you will be harmed. Joining me will simply assure your survival. Join me, and you can leave behind all this mess you created! I've come up with a plan that can have the whole world at my command...and I'd gladly accept you as a member; even as my successor in the far future."

Gary's eyes widened at this, slowly replying, "the whole world...?"

"You've already ruined so many relationships in your life, Shigeru. Your grandfather even knows of the many things you've done. He most definitely lost interest in you as well."

"What? What did you tell him?!"

"Only the truth, Shigeru! The truth of the many, horrible things you've done in this journey. And he expected so much from you...The look on his face was simply devastated, knowing that his own grandson turned out so bad. Trust me, Shigeru. You will find happiness in Team Rocket. Find your own kind who have gone through the exact same things...Join me."

The brunette looked down onto the ground, contemplating on that option. Giovanni had already gone so far to ruin his life. Even his grandfather, who was like a father to him, now thought of him as a horrible person. Slowly, everyone was leaving him behind...

No. He left them behind. And because of all the mess he got himself into, he had no idea if there really was a way back.

Was there a way out? Would it be better to just leave it all behind? He was good at running away...

Shutting his eyes, Gary took a deep breath and looked up at the man, knowing what option was for the best. Giovanni was leading this conversation for too long. It was time for him to take command.

"I know the truth. And I know that with time, I can convince the ones close to me that everything you've told them has been nothing but lies...I am nothing like you. I've learned from my mistakes and I know that I can't just run from them. So..."

Gary took a few steps back, taking out one of his pokeballs and pointing it towards Giovanni.

"Giovanni from Viridian. I challenge you to a Pokémon battle. If I win, you let me go. If you win you can...do whatever you want with me."

Gary knew that this was a stretch, as he didn't know if he could handle this gym leader. He also didn't know whether he was one to keep his word, once given. All he could do was hope for the best.

Giovanni thought this over for a moment before nodding and replying, "very well, Shigeru. Let us see how you fare against my Pokémon."

The brunette nodded and made his way to the other side of the gym, thinking about which Pokémon he would choose.

"We'll use the typical rules; three Pokémon each, no time limit," Giovanni called out.

Gary nodded and called out Blastoise. Giovanni, responded by choosing Golem, which made Gary a little more confident. Water against Rock was usually always a quick battle. But that confidence only began to fade as he saw the look in the opposing team's Pokémon. The best way he could describe it would be...heartless.

"Golem, use Tackle Attack!" Giovanni called out with a raised arm. His Pokémon followed his order and came rushing forward.

"Blastoise, Hydro Cannon!" Gary yelled out, Blastoise quickly retaliating.

But the move missed as Blastoise shot ahead and did not notice that Golem was actually running around him. Gary's eyes widened as he finally realized that it was coming to get him.

"Remember Shigeru, leave that box you're in and you lose! I'd recommend keeping your place!" Giovanni quickly called out from a distance.

But Gary's eyes were glued to the Golem that was getting closer, amazed that it's instinct was to head straight for the Trainer.

Taking a few steps back but making sure to stay in the white box he was in, Gary could only watch in a state of shock. But the feeling was abruptly pulled away as water suddenly slammed onto the Golem, making him trip and fall right in front of the brunette. This forced Gary's eyes to follow Blastoise who was running over to help. He could only watch as Blastoise grabbed onto the enemy Pokémon's leg, sliding him away from his Trainer so he could guard him. His usually kind and carefree Pokémon was in a state that he had never seen him before as the Blastoise let out a deep cry, expressing his dominance. The Golem screeched back and ran in for another Tackle, but Blastoise kept his footing and grabbed onto the Pokémon, knowing that another Hydro Cannon would simply allow him to go for Gary again. Blastoise struggled, but managed to stop Golem and go down for a Toxic Bite, biting down as hard as he could onto the opponents skull. As some point, Golem couldn't take the pain and moved back, rolling away from the large turtle.

Finally out of his stupor, Gary called out to his Pokémon to see if he was alright and cringed when Blastoise turned his head to reveal blood on his teeth.

"Giovanni, I thought you said that this was going to be a typical battle!" Gary yelled out, giving Golem a quick glance to make sure he wasn't coming for him again.

"I said we would use typical rules, Shigeru. I never said anything about a normal battle," Giovanni replied.

Gary frowned, glaring at such a horrible Trainer. How did he even manage to become a Gym Leader? And was this really his Gym to begin with?

Those questions were pushed away as Golem came running forward again. But his movements were slowing down as the poison was quickly getting to him. Blastoise found this as his chance and shot his Hydro Cannon but only using one cannon. Golem managed to roll away but, as Blastoise planned, he used his other cannon and hit the Pokémon; the force of the water so strong that it pushed Golem away and out of the field. He fainted right after.

"I'm shocked Shigeru! Allowing your Pokémon to move without your say! How untalented!" Giovanni mocked.

"What about you?!"

"I'm a villain, my dear boy. Do not mistake me for anything else. Kingler!"

At that moment, a Kingler came out of its pokeball from Giovanni's hand, expressing the exact same glare Golem had only minutes ago. Although Gary knew about the Pokémon, he reflexively brought up his pokédex to get the information stored into the machine. He barely paid attention to it, however, as Giovanni already commanded his Kingler to use Crabhammer on Gary.

Blastoise still guarded his Trainer, however, and was able to catch its attention. The Crabhammer was now directed to him but Blastoise managed to dodge it by only so much.

Finally, Gary's head was in the game and he recalled Blastoise, sending out Arcanine at the same time. Arcanine had no time to show his respect to his opponent as Gary quickly gave out a command.

"Arcanine, Take Down then Fire Spin!" Gary called out, watching as Arcanine launched forward. Out of all of his Pokémon's speed stat, he was proud to say that Arcanine surpassed all of them. Not only because of the rough training, but because of this Pokémon's spirit to simply strive to be better.

Arcanine slammed onto the Kingler, taking only minimal backlash damage and jumping back to use Fire Spin on it. The Kingler could not even keep his glance on Arcanine as his speed was much lower than the fire dog. It never even noticed Gary command Arcanine to use Fire Blast, oddly finishing off the Water type Pokémon quite quickly. It made Gary wonder what level this Pokémon was really in. Many people never cared to pay attention to that number as personal experiences tended to make their team stronger. However, Gary also knew that this numerical statistic could also affect the outcome of a battle.

Giovanni sighed at the second defeat, recalling the Pokémon and finally standing up, moving forward enough for Gary to finally see his face. His face was just like any other person, but that was what frightened Gary most of all. This man had no feeling behind that smile and, although he was far off, the brunette still was able to see the dead look in his eyes.

"Two down. You truly are a powerful opponent... Are you sure you won't change your mind? We could end this now and you could join me. I'll even hold back on the revenge."

"Just send out your last Pokémon," Gary replied, feeling as if he was ready for anything. He was already planning a strategy as he only assumed that his final choice would be the Persian next to him.

Giovanni let out another sigh and shook his head.

"Little Shigeru. I am not beaten yet. Isn't it only natural to save the best for last? I'll use this battle to test my most powerful Pokémon."

After his small speech, Giovanni snapped his fingers and the area below his balcony was revealed to actually be a door; slowly opening to reveal a dark room. Yet, it was bright enough to reveal a Pokémon (or what looked to be one) that was covered in machinery. Before he could bring out his pokédex, the Pokémon's eyes shined brightly and Arcanine was suddenly surrounded in a blue aura. Gary called out Arcanine's name and could only watch as the fire dog was abruptly thrown into the right wall. Luckily, Arcanine was still able to get up, giving Gary enough time to grab his pokédex to try and find information on the Pokémon. However, his pokédex began to short circuit, not finding any available data on the new Pokémon. This frightened Gary as he looked up at the being in fear.

"You look frightened, Shigeru. Out of the kindness in my heart, I'll allow you to use more than one Pokémon if you are that afraid of losing," Giovanni said as his smirk deepened.

His stubborn personality suddenly appeared, causing him to exclaim, "I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Everyone is afraid of something, Shigeru. Even I have a fear."

After a moment to think this through, Gary finally concluded that now was not the time to be so childish. He needed his Pokémon right now; most likely more than one.

Although it upset him, Gary also brought out Blastoise and beckoned for Arcanine to come back. Arcanine came running back over, standing next to Blastoise to protect his Trainer.

Gary commanded the two, trying to strategically use the two polar elements against the opponent, but it easily dodged the attacks; practically playing with the two.

"Enough of this nonsense, use Psychic again!"

The Pokémon froze and began to shake, almost as if it was fighting Giovanni's command.

"Now!" Giovanni yelled out, which in turn, caused the Pokémon to pick up Gary's two Pokémon again and send them flying to the walls behind the Trainer.

Gary looked back at the two Pokémon, watching as they still had some fight in them and were forcing themselves up. But when he continued to watch them, he saw them suddenly calling out, a look of fear in their eyes. Gary gave them confused glances then turned back around, only to find the machine covered Pokémon standing right in front of him.

Before he could yelp, the Pokémon brought its hand up to Gary's face and used Psychic, bringing Gary up into the air with him. Both of Gary's Pokémon had a sudden boost of morale as they watched their Trainer pulled up into the air, wincing as the Pokémon kept him completely still. Arcanine was the first to move, sprinting towards them and attempting a Take Down on the opponent, but it easily moved away, taking Gary along with it. Blastoise in turn, aimed to use Hydro Cannon while its back was turned, but relented as it suddenly turned around using Gary as its shield.

The brunette Trainer could only watch his Pokémon as they seemed to yell at the one holding him, almost as if they were beckoning him to let their Trainer go. But it made no effect as its other hand came up and used its abilities to slam the two into walls again, this time picking them up once they fell and slamming them onto each other.

Once it was sure that they were wounded enough, the Pokémon levitated to the center of the field, rotating Gary so they were face to face. It pushed the brunette away, giving him enough distance to see Giovanni as well as the Pokémon. It disgusted him that Giovanni was watching, looking practically jolly at what was occurring.

That was when Gary heard a phone ringing, making him jump in fear. He watched as Giovanni sighed and pulled out a black cellphone, pulling up the antennae on the small device and flipping it open.

"Play with him for a while," Giovanni told his Pokémon before placing the phone to his ear and turning away.

Gary looked back at the Pokémon and gasped as he felt his muscles clenching tightly. His body was quivering as the Pokémon practically played with his limbs, stretching them in painful angles then bringing him back to a standing position. All the while, Giovanni talked on the phone, Gary becoming violently angry at the answers he was giving.

"No, no do not worry, I'm not busy at all. Just torturing someone. How is the situation?"

Gary could only pay attention to so much as the Pokémon brought one of his arms up horizontally, bending the elbow back. With as much strength as he could muster, Gary managed to talk, stuttering through most of it.

"Please...Stop! It hurts!" But his words seemed to have flown over the Pokémon's head as it continued to bend his forearm back, slightly cocking its head to the side as if curious about the human's body.

Feeling the pain growing more and more in his arm, Gary finally managed to cry out, his voice cracking at first but a yell following right after. This caused the Pokémon to bring his arm back into position and Giovanni to cover his other ear to hear his caller.

The brunette panted and yelped as tears involuntarily streamed down his eyes, the stress in his muscles becoming so powerful that they began to numb. Although his vision was blurred due to the tears, Gary still managed to look at the Pokémon attacking him, vaguely noticing that its hand had begun to quiver and twitch. Its head was also slowly bowing down, almost as if it was trying to look away from the Trainer.

Somehow, Gary found himself speaking to the Pokémon, feeling as if this had to be asked.

"_You...can't stop. Can you_?"

Although his words were practically inaudible, the Pokémon instantly looked back up at him, its piercing white eyes staring directly into raw sienna. It shut its hand for a moment then quickly opened it, giving Gary a sudden pain in the left side his head. His head now felt like a complete mess as his vision began to fade in and out of reality. He could see the Pokémon, once again, shaking for control and Giovanni now turned to them. He seemed to be yelling but Gary lost interest in it as he fought to keep his eyes opened.

Too suddenly, his muscles relaxed themselves and he felt himself falling. He could vaguely see the Pokémon as it flew up. Or was he falling down?

Either way, the brunette's mind could not take this much and shut off before he could feel the brunt force of the ground.

* * *

A.N. Ok don't hate me lol I just felt like this was a good place to stop the chapter. I'm already working on the next one anyway as I was planning on keeping all together but was like nah. Lol I have school tomorrow and I really shouldn't be staying up til like 2 to finish this chapter lol

So uhm, yeah I made Giovanni much worse because when I have a villain, I have a damn villain, ok? :)

But ok questions! Gary lost the bet didn't he? I wonder what Giovanni is gonna do with him... Lol just a hint, he won't kill him. I don't ever wanna kill Gary because I love him too much. But what do you think he'll do to him? And do you think Ash is next? Ahhhhh the evil is too much to bear!

btw the story with Mewtwo will change up a bit from the anime and movie and such. If you remember, he was also in the Cerulean Cave so I'm adding that in, in it's own way.

Lol but yeah, R&R, tell me what you think, what you like, what you hated. Oh! And did the beginning help some people understand a bit more as to Ashy boy's choices? I hope it did. Lol things might be interesting between the two after this. Especially if Gary is forced into Team Rocket omg imagine that... Lol that (might) not be a spoiler but you know whatever :)

Hope you enjoyed!


	13. Chapter 13

A.N. Pokémon Conquest. The idea came to me first but then they finished it for me too perfectly. Also, will they somehow add this into the next game too? I'll explain more in the bottom AN. That's all that needs to be said.

* * *

Too loud. That was a great way to describe this state of being at the moment. Absolutely everything around him was just too loud. He couldn't see anything and all the noise around him sounded like a jumbled mess. A few times, he thought he heard people yelling out commands. Most likely to their Pokémon while fighting in a Pokémon battle.

Thinking of this brought Shigeru slowly back into reality, realizing that there was in fact another battle going on near him. Whatever he was laying on was hard and didn't have too much room, but it was cold.

But his mind continued to blur in and out of reality as he tried to force his eyes open. Finally having control of himself, Shigeru opened his eyes to only see black. But after a few moments, his vision cleared up and he was able to see a ceiling up above him. There was also a large hole on the ceiling, revealing a bright, blue day. He winced at the brightness, finding it painful. All the people talking wasn't helping either.

He suddenly felt himself blacking out again and when he was able to see, he noticed he was now on his knees, struggling to pull himself up. All that movement must have been difficult, however, as his whole body was jolting in pain. It didn't last though as it only brought a strain to his muscles. More than anything, he just felt weak. It reminded him of that night with Vencent, but that thought was abruptly pushed away. He didn't want to think about that now. Right now, he was trying to recollect his memories as to how he got here and why he could not focus.

After giving it as much thought as he could, the memories of Giovanni and that unknown Pokémon finally came to mind and gave him a chill down his spine. The terror he felt as that Pokémon held him was something he had never felt before. Even almost dying in the Rock Tunnel couldn't compare to the fear he got then.

He then tried to figure out why he couldn't think properly. The way he continued to suddenly lose consciousness was like when you were so restless that your body was forcing itself down. Yet, he never stopped fighting it as he knew he had to stay up. He wasn't sure why, but he knew he had to.

Finally pulling himself up to sit on his knees, Shigeru was able to take a good look around and soon realized that he was on the bleachers of the Gym he fainted in. He could see two people were battling in the Gym. However, it wasn't Giovanni as the Gym Leader. As of now, it was a red haired person, but their body was too blurry to give them an exact label. They stood atop of a raised platform and so did the challenger.

He looked over to the challenger, seeing a short blur with black hair and a red hat. Of course it had to be Ash. He always had a tendency of being where Gary was right after his most dire moments. But he had no way to clarify this statement as his vision went dark again.

It came back, revealing his shaking hands placing his pokeballs into his bag. Somehow he knew that they were all in there and put them away without a second thought, throwing the strap of the bag over his arm.

He managed to get onto his feet and down the stairs of the bleachers, limping the whole way down. He looked around the room, his eyes squinting because of the pressure behind them. His entire head felt swollen and as if it was pulsing like a heart. There was so much pain that he had to pause and take a breath, but even every inhale brought about another tinge of pain.

He noticed another black out about to come in but the sounds of electricity made Gary jump and look up at the red-haired person. They were complaining, asking someone why he had made both platforms shock the person within it.

"Luckily, I made this little gadget in case we did lose!" said a Pokémon who Shigeru was very close to. He didn't even remember moving this close to the battle. And for some reason, that Pokémon's voice was louder than everything in the room.

"All I do is hit the button and good bye competition~!" It said.

Hearing this brought Gary into his senses for a moment, realizing that the challenger (who he was assuming to be Ash) was in danger.

"Oh no you don't!" Gary managed to yell out, pushing his body forward to run towards the Pokémon. He pushed it down and the gadget in its hand went flying to who knows where. Since he was on the floor, he decided to sit there and hold the Pokémon down rather than move away.

At first, the brunette loosely held onto the Pokémon but when he felt it scratching at his arms, he held on tighter so it could stop hurting him.

He then heard other voices that were stronger than the rest, but his mind was already blacking out again, and his only objective at the moment was to stay awake. But when he heard footsteps of others coming, a headache came in full blast, making him hold onto the Pokémon tighter.

"Wha- _what the heck are you up to_?! I ain't your _doll_ or somethin' let me-" but it eventually stopped struggling. Slightly opening his eyes, he looked down at what he now realized was a Meowth, loosening his grip so it could look back at him. Meowth's eyes were wide, looking right into Gary's even though they were barely open. But before any interaction could be made, someone snatched up the Meowth, complaining about something or another.

"He looks sick! Meowth what's wrong with him?" the person asked, but he got no response. This made Gary look up at the Pokémon again, noting that he was still staring at him. For some reason, this was the only thing he could truly focus on. Slowly, he made his way back onto his feet, noticing that two others were behind him.

He was about to ask the Meowth what his problem was, but instead, the most unexpected thing happened.

'Can you hear me?'

The brunette panicked at the words that were not his and in his head and fell back, falling on someone who managed to keep him up. The pain in his head came back, forcing his eyes to shut and making him cry out in pain. He never even noticed when he suddenly blacked out again.

It only felt like seconds, but Gary awoke again to loud sounds of something breaking. When his vision cleared again, he had to quickly shut them as the sun's light was too brilliant. Wait, the sun?

Looking around, Gary realized he was outside and that the Viridian Gym was falling apart. What kind of crazy dreams was he having?

"Gary! Hey can you hear me?!"

Wincing at the sound, the voice abruptly brought Gary back into reality, looking at the face right in front of him. It was Ash who was apparently holding his upper body up at the moment and trying to keep him awake.

"What...Yeah, yeah I can hear you," Gary mumbled out as he rubbed his forehead. There were so many more voices out here but they sounded distant, lessening his headache.

"We called for an ambulance and they should be here soon, ok? Just stay with me!" Ash said, giving him a good shake to keep his eyes open.

This brought a frown to Gary's lips, wondering what happened with the battles they were in.

"Wait did you...get your Gym Badge?"

"Mine doesn't matter right now, what happened to you? Why were you in the Gym to begin with?" Ash asked, looking nothing but concerned.

Before he could answer though, another headache came surging into his head, making him groan and turn to the cause. He could see the two people walking towards him and for some reason, the closer they got, the worse his headache became.

"Stay away," Gary said between gritted teeth, roughly pressing his fingers down onto his eyes.

"What?"

"Dammit, it hurts! Stay back!" he cried out as he gave Ash a good shove, causing himself to fall back onto the ground. Once again, though, his vision started going black. Even though he felt himself falling back into slumber, he was seriously getting tired of this. He tried to fight it as hard as he could but everything went black again.

"S-sorry. Didn't mean to shove," he murmured afterwards. But when he opened his eyes again, he was confused to see himself on some sort of bed and being pulled into a car. It finally hit him that he was being put in an ambulance.

He saw Ash jump into the vehicle as well, but this managed to bring his headache up again. When the boy moved in close, Gary's eyes looked over to the yellow blob on his shoulder, which he realized was that Pikachu of his. He looked at it long enough to be able to focus on it and saw it staring him down like that Meowth did.

'No way. You're Linked?'

The brunette felt the headache come back with full force and panicked again, hating the feeling of having voices in his head. He tried to turn away from the Pokémon that somehow was giving him pain but the other men in the ambulance kept him on his back; all talking but none of them making any sense. He dared to look back at the Pikachu and saw it grabbing some things and jumping out of the ambulance. This calmed him down but turned his mind off again, turning back on as they were driving away. He also noticed that his nose began bleeding and someone coming to help clean it up.

He could hear all these weird noises and the voices of people, none being clear enough to comprehend. When his vision came completely back, he was able to make out his rival as he called out to him, seeming extremely close to his face.

Gary could feel himself once again slipping away but he began to accept the darkness, feeling too tired to fight anymore. But his eyes abruptly opened as he felt something hitting his cheek multiple times, looking up to see Ash at the brink of tears.

For some reason, this brought a smile to Gary's face. Ash was always so over emotional. Even when they were children and the boy didn't have his way, Gary would have to deal with his waterworks and make him feel better afterwards. Not that that was such a bad thing. He always enjoyed making his friend smile again.

Mustering up the last remnants of energy he had left, Shigeru pulled his arm up to Ash's face, wanting to place it on there but only managing to graze it with his fingers. Luckily, Ash grabbed his hand and held it up to his cheek, his face turning red as he continued to talk to the other. As the edges of his vision began to darken, Shigeru forced Ash's hand off of his and moved it to the back of his neck, using all of his might to bring the blackette closer to him. Ash seemed to have caught his drift as he let himself move down, giving the boy a confused look. He was close enough that Shigeru could feel Ash's breath on his mouth.

Shigeru watched as Ash's eyes widened and his face flushed even brighter. And as he shut his eyes to accept the darkness, he vaguely felt something on his lips, something that made his heart race and his face burn.

* * *

Holding both Trainers' bags, Pikachu jumped out of the ambulance, ignoring his Trainer as he asked where he was going. He knew this was for the best for that other Trainer. If so many Pokémon were around him, that would just make the connection harder to assemble.

As the car drove away, Pikachu opened the other Trainer's bag and pulled out his pokeballs, pressing the small button to let out the two that he knew, as they needed to know this information.

Blastoise was the first one Pikachu let out, but the Pokémon was weak and fell on his knees, panting and looking up at his old friend. Eevee was the second one out, waking up from a nap.

"W-where's our Trainer?" Blastoise said to Pikachu between a few tired breaths.

"He's leaving for the hospital with my Trainer. What happened to you guys?" Pikachu asked.

Eevee could only shrug as he was not in the battle during this time.

"It was Mewtwo..." Blastoise said, maneuvering himself so he could sit on the ground.

The two looked at the large Pokémon in shock. It had been thousands of years since that Pokémon was last seen.

"These bad guys put something on him and were controlling him through our battle. Mewtwo was trying to fight him off but he was too strong. He hurt me, Arcanine, but especially Shigeru... And I couldn't stop him..." continued Blastoise, looking down in sadness.

"No one can blame you. Mewtwo is strong," Pikachu stated, hoping Blastoise would feel better about the situation.

But the large tortoise only sighed, saying, "in the end, Mewtwo flew off so I guess those guys don't have control of him anymore. While he flew away, the Gym Leader called some people and went after him which gave me and Arcanine some time to hide Shigeru in the gym. We barely had any energy left so we did what we could and hid as well..."

"You two did good. At least he's alive," Eevee said as he placed his paw on Blastoise's leg.

"Yeah but for how long?"

"Like I said, he left in an ambulance. They should take care of him...but something happened that makes sense if Mewtwo was involved."

Shigeru's two Pokémon looked over to the electric mouse, wondering what he was talking about. His expression seemed a bit grim and after a sigh, he said, "he's Linked."

Eevee was the first to give Pikachu a confused expression, walking over and replying, "what're you talking about? That's not possible. Humans haven't been able to Link with Pokémon for hundreds of years."

"Mewtwo must have done something to him! You know he was alive during those gruesome times! And I felt it myself. I was next to your Trainer for only a little while but I could feel that connection. It's unlike any other and, I know I personally have never had a Link, but it matched the description perfectly."

"Wait, wait I barely learned anything about that old story," Blastoise said, cutting into the conversation of the two nerdy Pokémon.

"A long time ago, humans were able to talk to Pokémon telepathically, making battling much easier. They were called Warriors and, much like Trainers, connected with the Pokémon to battle and things like that," Eevee explained.

"The many nations all had a huge war to control all the lands and one person, in time, did. But they all disappeared without a trace after that, only elder Pokémon being able to pass down the tale," Pikachu finished.

Blastoise nodded, vaguely remembering the story from long ago.

"Mewtwo was there during those times...Do you think he could've done it on purpose?" Pikachu asked as he tried to makes sense of the situation.

"Why though? I didn't think he had the ability to give someone that power anyway," Blastoise asked.

"No one does. All a human needs is to open another section of their brain to be Linked. You know, they only use so little of their brains. Every one of them has the potential to Link, it's just that they need enough power for it to be accessed," Eevee answered.

"So...Mewtwo wanted to be heard then. He did look like he was suffering..." Blastoise replied, looking down in thought.

This was when Pikachu looked up at the Two Gym Leaders who were apparently waiting for their conversation to end.

"Let's talk about this later. We need to take you guys to a Pokémon Center to heal," Pikachu said as he pushed Blastoise's pokeball over to him.

Blastoise pressed the button without hesitation, feeling quite worn out. Eevee decided to walk with Pikachu and talk more about the situation along the way while the Gym Leaders held their Trainer's bags.

The whole time, the two spoke about the old stories of Linking and how Mewtwo was connected to that time. Only Pokémon from Kanto really knew about Mewtwo as the stories of those times were passed down mainly around this area. It would only make sense that the old nations were probably around here as well, hence why Mewtwo rarely ventured away. Still, the thought of him being caught was insane. He always hid so well...

Evening came fast and the group made it to the Pokémon Center. Many doctors and nurses were moving back and forth, busy as always on both the Pokémon side and the Human side.

Eevee and Pikachu waited on the floor as the two Leaders talked to the pink haired nurse, asking about their Trainers. Once they got the information needed, they walked over to the Human side, cleaning their paws and such on a mat that was there for Pokémon.

Walking into the waiting room, Pikachu was the first one to spot his Trainer who was pacing back and forth near the large doors to the emergency room. He ran up to his Trainer, jumping onto his leg to catch his attention. Ash quickly noticed him and looked down at the Pokémon, picking him up and greeting him with a hug.

As Ash pulled away however, Pikachu noticed something red on his lips and pointed to his own to point it out to Ash. The Trainer gave his starter Pokémon an odd look then touched his lips, looking at his fingers to find the red liquid on them. Pikachu watched as his face turned a bright red and vigorously wiped his lips, saying that it was nothing important. He then greeted his companions who asked if everything was alright.

Pikachu's Trainer looked down, replying, "he blacked out again on the ride over here. But this time he really hasn't gotten up..."

"W-What?"

Pikachu looked down at Eevee who was looking quite shocked. The expression then turned into a mixture of fear and worry, his ears flopping down reflexively with his emotions. Ash noticed this reaction and bent down to pick him up as well. Even though the boy didn't physically understand them, he was good at telling how Pokémon felt.

"Don't worry, Eevee. The doctor's are taking care of him now so he'll be fine!" Ash said with a large smile. Pikachu knew him long enough to already recognize a fake smile from a real one and could visibly see his Trainer forcing himself to seem upbeat for another. He did this way too much and sometimes, Pikachu had to wonder if even his real smile was occasionally false.

Time passed without a word from the doctor about Shigeru's condition as the group patiently sat in the waiting room. After a while, Brock went out to get some food for them while Ash quickly went to heal up Gary's Pokémon. Pikachu, Eevee, and Togepi stayed with Misty in the waiting room; watching as others came in and out of the hospital. A few minutes passed and Ash rejoined the group with the fully healed Pokémon.

"They're all good," Ash said as he placed Shigeru's pokeballs in his bag. As he put them away, he paused, staring at something that was in the bag. Pikachu hopped over to him and looked in, asking what it was.

"Oh, uhm, nothing Pikachu."

Pikachu complained a bit and tried to make his way into the bag, knowing that this would make his Trainer eventually spill the beans. Ash laughed a bit and picked up the bag, sitting on the chair it was on before placing it on his lap and taking out whatever item caught his eye.

It was one half of a pokeball, the top red half to be exact. Ash handed Pikachu the piece and the Pokémon inspected it, wondering what the big deal was. His attention was then brought back up to his Trainer who picked up his own bag and pulled out another half a pokeball, the white part. Quickly realizing the connection, Pikachu held out the piece he had and Ash pressed the other against it, the two pieces fitting together perfectly.

Ash eyed the item for a moment as Pikachu held it, viewing it as a portrait in a museum but Pikachu only saw a worn out ball that was now useless.

"Two halves of a whole..."

Pikachu looked up at his Trainer's words, confused as to what he meant. But he never obtained his answer as Ash broke it apart again and put them in their original locations.

"So what now, Satoshi? Are you gonna wait until Shigeru gets better or keep going with your mission to become the Champion?" the Cerulean Gym Leader asked, holding both Togepi and Eevee on her lap.

Pikachu looked back over to Ash and saw him contemplating what he wanted to do. It didn't take him long to find an answer but Pikachu didn't expect he would make this choice.

"Wait for him. Becoming the Champion can wait."

Pikachu looked back over to Misty, expecting her to be surprised but was amazed to see her still looking down at the Pokémon on her lap, not in the least surprised. She began petting Eevee, who was looking down in deep thought.

When Pikachu really thought about it, he would be in a panic if Ash was the one in the emergency room for so long. He was truly amazed at the way Eevee was taking this. He seemed very stoic; much like his Trainer. It made Pikachu wonder if he became anything like his Trainer after such a long time; childish, dopey, and dense... He truly hoped not. But everything that Ash lacked in his mind was made up by his strong heart.

Eevee's Trainer wasn't like this. As much as Pikachu knew, that Shigeru boy was a tough person to live with. The Pokémon he had before would constantly complain about him, especially Squirtle (and up until now). Yet Eevee never did. Not once. It was as if he was the closest to his Trainer and understood him more than anyone else. It made Pikachu realize that Eevee's Trainer must have a strong reason for being this way. The electric mouse thought about asking Eevee about him, but knew that he probably wasn't in the mood to speak at the moment.

So instead, he walked over to his Trainer's lap and made himself comfortable. He didn't know how long they were planning on staying there, but a small nap would be fine, at least until the other Gym Leader came back with food.

* * *

"...Uhm...hey. I know you're not awake, but...I guess I just wanted to check on you. Heh, it's kinda weird talking to you like this but...I guess I need practice before you actually wake up."

Gary listened to someone who apparently was in this room with him. He felt as if he was in between being awake and asleep, but he had enough energy to hear things quite vividly. As of now, it was pretty quiet except for a beeping sound and this person's voice. The beeps gave him the quick assumption that he was in a hospital, although he wasn't too sure why. And the voice was obviously Ash's. He could never forget his voice. He was halfway hoping that this wasn't one of those weird dreams he used to have of his friend. He was also halfway hoping he wouldn't open his eyes and find him wearing something...interesting.

"So uhm, the doctors said that you'll be fine and you should wake up by tonight. I'm really hopeful for that. I literally stopped my entire journey to wait for you...It's already been two days and you haven't woken up once."

Ash took a long pause after that, letting those words really sink into Gary's head. Two days? He's been sleeping for that long? And Ash was really waiting for him?

Gary was pretty sure that this wasn't a dream. It felt too realistic and his senses felt completely clear (his auditory ones anyway). The only problem was that his body didn't want to move. Almost as if it was used to staying put and didn't want to shift from that state. Even his eyes chose not to open. So instead of attempting to fight this, Gary patiently waited for his body to 'wake up', simply listening to his friend as he continued to speak about what's been happening ever since he fell into his coma.

"They thought that you had a concussion at first. But after a while, your head seemed perfectly fine. They said that it was much more active than most people, in fact... They...wanted to do tests on you and called the Professor because he's like your guardian or something. He said no."

'Good thing. I'd be pissed if he let them do that to me...' Gary thought as a reply.

"So uhm...I left all our Pokémon outside because yesterday you seemed like you were in pain whenever any were around. You seem fine now so I guess that's what it was. Hopefully, that goes away though. I mean, there's Pokémon everywhere so that wouldn't exactly be good."

'Unless I find some island and stay by myself till the end of time.'

"Well, unless you find some place to be by yourself until the end of time," Ash said with a small laugh afterward.

Gary wanted to smile at the fact that they thought of the same silly notion, but the muscles on his face merely twitched then chose to stay still.

Another awkward silence came into the room until Ash thought of another topic to bring up.

"Don't be mad but...I had to look through your bag the other day,"

'Yeah, I'm completely mad about that.'

"And I found this."

Gary then felt his hand being twisted around, his palm now upwards. Ash placed something on it; this action somehow livening up his senses and allowing him to feel something cool and smooth to the touch. It made him wonder what he had found in his bag.

"It's the pokeball we broke in half when we were younger...I actually completely forgot about that until a few days ago. For some reason, I really lost so much memory from when we were kids. My mind was always set on being the best and catching up to you that...I guess I forgot about the good times and only paid attention to the bad."

'I knew you forgot, stupid. But I didn't mind all that much. You were always forgetful.'

"I always kept my piece of the pokeball though. I forgot about it after a while but it's always been with me."

This was a surprise to Gary. He thought Ash had left that behind, finding the item a waste of space. He was pretty sure Ash thought the same about him too. Yet, oddly enough they both kept it with them.

"I'm kinda hoping you were holding it as a good luck charm, like me."

'I was.'

"But...I kinda also hope that you were holding it for other reasons too."

Gary didn't know how he would have replied to this. Most likely he would've asked him what he meant by that. He was hoping that this conversation was leaning a certain direction, but he came to the conclusion that that was impossible, as Ash already chose to push him away. The thought of that moment brought Gary down and he was thankful that Ash continued to speak so the memory would fade away.

"I don't know if you remember what happened in the ambulance or not, but that really opened my eyes to something. Not really an answer but more like...I had to question myself about a couple things. Like, why I decided to do this huge journey. One half was definitely for the Pokémon because, let's face it, I'm completely obsessed."

'No denying that one.'

"But...I did it for you too. I wanted to be better than you. I wanted to...catch up to you and beat you and your stuck up attitude. Put you in your place, you know?"

'I got that the first way you phrased it, geez.'

"And...it hurt. The way you made me feel the whole time. I hid it from you and everyone else but at some point I couldn't handle it anymore... then you told me that you did it all to keep me going."

Gary felt his mood lowering more and more. He expected Ash to throw a flurry of insults at him now, probably expressing what he's wanted to say for so long.

"I think...what I hate most of all is not that you did all that. But the fact that it worked."

'Wait...what?'

"I don't think I'd be as good as I am now if it wasn't for you pestering me the whole way. It's stupid really. You'd think Pokémon would be motivation enough for me but you were always the one that kept me really going. So...thank you, I think? You're still a douche though...but I'll forgive you under one condition."

By this time, Ash was practically murmuring these words, losing all the energy he had earlier. It was as if he didn't want to say this. Gary wondered, was he holding in as many secrets as he was this entire time?

"You have to make it up to me. For this whole year spent torturing me, you've gotta make it up and...make me happy."

He wasn't sure if this was visible or not, but Gary was pretty sure that he was blushing at this moment. He definitely loved that Ash forgave him and understood his side of the story, but did he actually have feelings for him too? Did he still have a chance?

"Dammit to Arceus, I could never tell him something so embarrassing!" Ash quickly said, obviously very flustered at the moment. He could hear Ash as he ruffled up his hair then stood up from his seat. Was he going to leave now?

"I liked you even before this journey, you know."

He took a long pause after this.

"I liked you a lot but the way you acted just... It pushed me away. I believed that you hated me and that hurt back then. I tried to get over it and managed to forget all the good times to force me to hate you back. But now that I remember it all again, I guess I couldn't get over you."

Ash deeply sighed and walked around a bit, ending up near him again.

"I bet my entire life that you won't remember what you did in the ambulance. I hope you do though because..." but he stopped before he could finish, walking away again.

This made Gary (internally) squirm in curiosity. What did he do in the ambulance? He barely remembered even being on one to begin with. Was it something perverted? He hoped not. But apparently Ash wanted him to remember so it must have been serious.

Either way, Gary finally understood how Ash felt about him. It amazingly never occurred to him to think that the blackette felt the same about him and was hiding all of those feelings, just like he was. It seemed surreal because of that childhood feud they kept up for so long. They had feelings for each other all of this time, but both of them were far too dense to actually express those feelings. How stupidly dramatic was that?

"Just wake up already...please," he said as Gary felt pressure on the bed he was in. When Ash continued to speak, he realized that it was his head that was on the bed. He faintly could feel his rival's hand on his and could only assume that he was holding it tightly now.

"I couldn't even tell you. It's not fair. You at least got to tell me the truth but it's my turn now. So hurry up and wake up so I can tell you that,"

Ash cut off, making Gary feel guilty that he couldn't force himself to jolt awake. He just wanted something to use a quick ThunderShock on him so he could see and talk to his friend who desperately needed someone at the moment.

It was quiet for a long time after that. Gary wondered how long it was and tried time and time again to open his eyes. But the more he tried, the more this all felt like a dream. He read that people in coma's could hear others but he never thought he could actually experience it. He didn't even want to.

Finally, some sound broke the extreme silence as Ash began to move. His movements slightly shook the bed he was on, helping him try to break out of this sleep he was in. He could feel his eyes managing to move back and forth and continued to move them, hoping this could at least force his eyelids open.

"At least I can tell you're dreaming," Ash said, seeming much closer than before.

As another tactic, Gary tried moving his tongue, but even that felt too heavy and dry at the moment. All of his attempts to wake up distracted him from the person who moved even closer to him.

It felt like forever but before he realized it, Gary felt pressure against his lips; a soft pressure that was relaxing but made the nerves on his skin jolt at the same time. The brunette felt his heart race and a knot in his stomach tighten, realizing that the person he was so in love with was kissing him at the moment.

As if his body realized the situation he was in, all energy slowly came back to him and his eyes finally opened. It was all a bit fuzzy, but he was able to make out the person who was right in front of him. Gary's hand dropped his half of the pokeball onto the bed and slowly made its way to Ash's cheek, making the other's eyes open to see Gary looking at him. His eyes widened and he tried to pull away, quickly apologizing, but Gary made sure to keep hold of him; holding onto the back of his neck to keep him down to his level.

Ash was still in shock, but eventually calmed down as Gary brought his other hand up to his flushed cheek and pulled him close, pressing his lips against the smaller boy's this time. Ash was hesitant at first, but Gary soon felt him move forward, applying more pressure into the kiss.

There was no movement or extreme passion in the action. They simply held onto this loving moment as if it was their last, and only parted when they felt it was enough.

Gary opened his eyes to see the other's half lidded eyes, the top of his ears now a bright red. He couldn't stop the smile that forced his way onto his lips. He hadn't felt this happy in a really, really, really long time. Now everything truly felt like a dream.

"Hey," Gary said, his voice low and raspy.

"H-hey," Ash replied as a smile eventually formed onto his face.

"Satoshi, are you still in here?"

Ash's eyes widened as they heard someone walk into the room and he quickly jumped back, putting on his hat and standing a few feet away from Gary's bed.

"Y-yeah! I-I was about to tell you that he woke up! Look!" Ash yelled out, being overly dramatic as always.

The two Gym Leaders and a doctor walked in, looking over to Gary and smiling brightly.

"Uhm, I'm gonna go get him some water! His voice is a little hoarse, be right back!" Ash exclaimed as he walked out of the room with a laugh.

Gary couldn't help but to widen his smile at how the boy could never tell a lie without having a panic attack about it. Roughly rubbing his eyes, Gary stretched with all of his might, thankful that he could finally move to a certain degree. Still, he felt very weak and stayed on the bed as the doctor advised.

The doctor explained everything that happened, including his supposed concussion and how his brain was now. He also told him about Ash staying the night and his visit the day before. This made Ash turn away in embarrassment, stating that he actually had a valid reason, but Gary only chuckled and thanked him for his kindness.

The issue of his pain towards Pokémon was also brought up and seemed to be the biggest issue.

"We still were not able to find the reason as to why you felt pain whenever a Pokémon was around. We were hoping that when you awoke, we'd try it again. Do you think you're ready for it?"

"Of course. No time better than now," Gary said with a cough. He tried clearing his throat but that didn't help at all. Luckily, Ash did get him some water and quickly gave it to him.

With a nod, the doctor walked back over to the door and looked down to the floor, telling someone that they could come in. For some reason, Gary already knew it was Eevee. Right when the Pokémon walked in, his presence was just instantly noticed and Gary wasn't sure whether to tell the doctor about this or not. However, he wasn't feeling any headache so that was a good thing.

A few seconds later, he saw his Pokémon jump onto his bed and look right at him, seeming quite worried. Seeing no pain being expressed, Eevee moved in closer until he was in arms reach of his Trainer. Gary pulled his hand up and petted his starter Pokémon, greeting it the same way he greeted Ash.

This gesture instantly effected Eevee as he cuddled into his hand then pounced over to him, licking his cheek and cuddling onto his neck.

"Well, I'm guessing everything's alright then," the doctor said with a smile.

They talked a little bit longer, the doctor asking many questions to see if his 'concussion' had any after effect on the boy. Once the doctor finished all of his questions, he told Gary that he seemed a-ok and that he could leave today once his papers were gathered and he felt rejuvenated. The man left right after, leaving the group to converse for a little while. Gary constantly looked over to Ash, not staring for long but simply looking over to him when he could. Ash looked away in embarrassment each time, but he could tell that it wasn't in a negative way.

"So what're you gonna do now? You can't jump back into battling and such. Doctor's orders!" Misty happily asked, reminding Gary that it was better to settle down for a little while.

"I guess...I'll stay home for a little while. Maybe visit finally Gramps," Gary said as a half joke. But right when Gary said this, his smile faded as he remembered what Giovanni told him. Would his grandfather want to see him right now?

"We visited him yesterday! He did seem very worried about you," Misty added, not noticing Gary's change of mood.

"He told us to tell you that he was really excited to talk to you about your adventure so far," Brock added, making Gary look over to him. A chill of fear ran down his body. Not one of terror but one of a child who knows that their parent knows all the bad things they've done. Not many knew of his grandfather's strict disciplinary system as he was very good at hiding it and was the master of holding secrets.

As his parents were gone, him and May were the ones who had to live up to the expectations of a Pokémon Professor; a famous one. For a long time, the two followed his policy of school first, games later, but eventually they managed to break away from his grip and do what they want.

May was the one who was completely out of his grasp as she didn't want to be a Professor. All of that scientific information was too much for her and personally bored her. She went into becoming a masseuse for people and Pokémon, which still disappoints his grandfather to this day, but he came to accept it. Everything now was on Shigeru, and luckily, he enjoyed a more scientific view of Pokémon, making their relationship a much safer road. However, he always kept a tight leash on Shigeru, wanting to know what he did, when, where, and by what time. It actually astonished him when his gramps actually allowed him to go travel around Kanto on his own. But when he confronted him about it, he simply stated that he was old and needed to keep track of Kanto. As a Pokémon Professor in training, it was also better for him to see the world and it's beauty.

His grandfather never contacted him throughout the entire journey, and Gary found it best that way. He could then show him how much he learned and how much information he could retain on his own for a long period of time. But that idea was shot out of the window with all of the drama that came with this journey. It was hard to keep his mind in check with his emotions in such a scramble. But now that things were calmer at the moment, Gary decided to try to clean up his internal hard drive and make it look presentable for his grandfather when the time came.

Still, would that be what he'd want to know? He knew of his many mistakes now and probably thought of him as a failure by now.

"Hey, you ok?"

Gary broke out of his deep thoughts and looked up to his rival who had a hand on his shoulder. Simply looking at his face was enough to push away such stressful thoughts and bring a smile to his face. The brunette shook his head, replying that everything was fine and he was just thinking. Ash gave him a long look but nodded and looked away, obviously still feeling awkward about earlier.

As they continued some more small talk, the door suddenly slammed open and Gary looked over to see his panting and disheveled older sister staring right at him. Her eyes were red and watering and she looked as if she hadn't slept in days.

"G-Gary!" she yelled out as she ran over and pulled him into a deep hug.

"_Thank Arceus_! I was so worried about you!" she said between tears, pulling back from her embrace to check if his face was alright before gripping him up again.

"May, I'm fine! What made you think something bad was gonna happen to _me_?" Gary said as he held her as tightly as he could.

"Oh shut up you stupid moron!" she angrily yelled out but not letting go.

"She asked me to stay with you as long as I could because these two days she was just too busy," Ash stated with a soft smile.

"But I came as soon as I could! I'm sorry I couldn't be here when you woke up," she said as she finally let go, sitting on the side of the bed and wiping her tears.

Gary told her as much as he could about the incident (without giving information on the unknown Pokémon as he felt that that shouldn't be brought up right now. She was already stressing about his health and one more problem wasn't going to help anyone) and May, in return, told him everything she and the group were doing to take care of him. Delia apparently visited as well but could only stay so long as she had errands to run. But May made sure to tell him that before anything he had to go and visit her as she was just as worried as everyone else was.

"The Professor must've been really worried as well, but he was probably too busy to come and visit," Ash added. May and Gary both agreed but gave each other a glance, knowing that that probably wasn't the case.

"Well yeah, you can visit him after," May added, being the professional liar that she is as she brightly smiled at the option.

A few hours passed and Gary was back on his feet, slowly walking out of his room. For someone who slept for two days straight, everyone was amazed that he regained his energy quickly, but Gary didn't think too hard on the subject and was just thankful that he was up. When they finally left the hospital, Gary saw all of his Pokémon running up to him. He had no headache but his head did feel strange around them. Either way, he hugged the group as they all greeted him and were happy to see that he was alright.

Putting them all away except for Eevee and Arcanine, Gary and May went on top of the fire dog and got ready to run back home while Ash took out his Charizard to fly there. He decided to take it slow though, so he could keep his eyes on them to make sure that they'd make it home fine.

Gary gave Ash a knowing look, reminding him of what happened not too long ago, before thanking him once again for caring for him. Ash replied with a rude yet playful remark, stating that he owed him for these three days now. But as Charizard began to fly upward with the trio on board, Gary replied, "no! For the whole year! You said that, remember?"

Ash's eyes widened as his face turned a bright red, realizing that Gary heard a lot more than he thought. Before Ash could angrily retort, Gary told Arcanine to go and ran into the fields of Route 1.

* * *

A.N. Ok I'm gonna be honest, I reread this chapter way too many times as I was trying to fix up everything on it. But by the end, my brain just went DERP. Lol So I'm really sorry if the end sounds bad and rushed. Please tell me how it came out lol Was it good enough? I really don't know and I'm done rereading this lol...

GAAAAHHHH FINALLY. THE KISS. lol I've been aching for this scene just as badly as the one from the last chapter lol You guys really were driving me though lol Like, I promised myself I wasn't gonna write anything today then I found ALL OF THESE REVIEWS and I'm like oh man, I wanna write the next one like now lol screw my life XD

Ok so for those who have not played Pokémon Conquest, it's pretty much what I said earlier. In the game, it wasn't in the past and it wasn't a bloody war (although that's how I portray it because dude I was a freakin Warlord taking over neighboring countries. I vote that it was a bloody war and I killed many who did not join my clan!). It apparently is happening in the same universe as the Pokémon we know. Just in a different area (a person in the game actually said something like "did you know that there are others far away who hold Pokémon in a ball and battle like that?" so yeah).

But uhm, they do have this thing called the Link that lets them telepathically talk with Pokémon. They don't actually show conversations but you apparently tell them what to do during battle. (Lol in my mind my Pokémon were brutal as hell. Cuttin up anybody in their path! I'm horrible lol but seriously, that game is SO much fun if you think of it that way).

Also! For those who get confused over Mewtwo's story, I practically changed up the whole thing. Mewtwo was in Pokémon Conquest and I'm making Pokémon Conquest as if it's the past, right? So for it to really make sense, I made it that Mewtwo is just like any other Pokémon; was not made or anything. He's just super awesome and instead of MADE and used, he was FOUND and used. So yeah I just wanted to make sense of that. I'm also not gonna move into the movie territory because that's just too much in an already complicated story lol

Oh! And I wanna know, how do you think the Professor is gonna take all this information, now that you see how I portray him? :) one or two readers probably already know what's gonna happen but I'm not gonna give any clues. All I'm gonna say is that he still has to become the Champion and that's gonna be tough, so would I really add extra drama after all the crap that has happened so far AND now that more tough times are coming? Lol who knows! (ME)

So uh, R&R for me dudes! Tell me what you liked, what you HATED, what you hoped for! And once again sorry for the end lol I'll make up for it in the next chapter, I promise.


End file.
